First Impressions
by JunoInferno
Summary: The Doctor, Donna and company are waylaid on the way home to 1796 Hampshire and the home of one Jane Austen, but why is the village being plagued by an apparition that's also appearing in Cardiff in 2010?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna or anyone really. This is the sequel to I Said Not A Space Cave which was the sequel to a lot of other stuff which you can just find the order of on my Profile page if you're totally lost at this point. I also would like to acknowledge tkelparis because she invited me to look at a list of Doctor Who prompts and Jane Austen/Regency was one of them. I don't know that this was exactly what she had in mind, but that's what gave me the idea to set the story here, so thank you. All historical inaccuracies will be my fault and I apologize in advance, don't think it's some sort of plot twist that they're in a holodeck or dead or something. Anyway, thank you for reading, hope you enjoy the first chapter, let me know what you think.

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><p>Gwen Cooper looked over at Mickey Smith across the spacious new Torchwood Hub.<p>

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

"Didn't they say they would be back by now?," asked Gwen.

"Suppose so..."

"You're not worried?"

Mickey scoffed. "You've never travelled with the Doctor."

"I have so! I went to that shopping mall planet, we snuck into Thames House and we all went to Puerto Rico that time to stop the 456."

"Yeah, but those trips all went how they were supposed to go, that's not how trips with the Doctor usually go."

"Yeah, yeah, we all know about you and the parallel world and being trapped with your ex..." She rolled her eyes.

"Hey, you're not qualified to talk about that, you weren't there."

"Fair enough," said Gwen. She had never met Rose, just seen her on the screen that one time, but had gotten an earful from Jack and Mickey later. She was beginning to think it was fortunate she hadn't.

"Actually, you were there," said Mickey, interrupting Gwen's thoughts.

Gwen looked at Mickey in shock. "What?"

"Yeah, in Pete's World, there's another Gwen Cooper. Your duplicate."

"Why did you never mention this before?"

"Don't know."

"Well, what's she like? Does she look like me?"

"Yeah, actually. She works for Torchwood."

Gwen's mind was suddenly full of questions. "What else is there? Is she married? Is there a parallel Rhys?"

Mickey paused. "She doesn't talk about it. Cybermen."

"Oh."

They went on with their work, Gwen was just about to ask Mickey another question when a glowing gold form appeared in the Hub.

"Oh, my God," said Gwen.

"What the hell is that?," asked Mickey.

"Like I know!"

Mickey hurried to the Hub's internal sensor panel as the form seemed to turn and watch him. Gwen drew her weapon.

"Some kind of massive energy displacement," said Mickey.

"Is it coming through the Rift?," asked Gwen.

"No," said Mickey in surprise. "It's not. No signs of elevated Rift activity at all."

They looked at each other and the form disappeared. Gwen glanced up at the Torchwood CCTV monitors.

"Oh, bloody hell it went outside!"

Gwen and Mickey ran outside, no easy task for Gwen considering she was six months pregnant.

The form was in the center of Roald Dahl Plass. People were screaming and running, even the seagulls were flying off as the form continued to search around looking for something. Gwen and Mickey had no plan but to follow it around.

"Do you think it can hear us?," asked Gwen.

"I don't know anything about it!," said Mickey.

Gwen decided to try. She sided up to the thing, speaking gently as if to a skittish horse. "Hey, who are you? Where did you come from?"

The form continued to look around frantically as Mickey filmed it.

"Are you lost?," asked Gwen. "We can help you get back if you'll just talk to us, yeah?"

The form turned to look at Gwen and then she knew it was conscious.

"I'm not going back," said a female voice, that sounded as if it was a million miles away and underwater.

Then it vanished.

Gwen looked at Mickey. "So... any ideas?"

* * *

><p>"Good news, Donna," the Doctor said. "It's not a space cave."<p>

"Then what is it exactly?," asked Donna.

The Doctor looked back at the sitting room and the woman who eyed him curiously and was probably wondering who he was speaking to.

"Well, it's a sitting room..."

Donna groaned and walked towards the TARDIS door, brushing the Doctor as she went past. She saw the young woman and smiled.

"Hello, sorry about ending up in your sitting room, see sometimes my husband has disagreements with his spaceship..."

"Donna..."

The woman seemed to take it with aplomb. "A perfectly understandable mistake, I am sure."

"Could you possibly tell us where we are?"

"Of course. This is Steventon in Hampshire."

"Right, of course, Hampshire..." said the Doctor. "And could you possibly tell us what year it is?"

"Oh, you can't tell by smelling?," asked Donna.

"Something's thrown off my time sense..." the Doctor muttered sheepishly.

"Isn't that just wizard?," asked Donna.

The woman cleared her throat. "It is the year of our Lord, seventeen ninety six." She looked at the pink baby sling. "I am not familiar with that sort of costume. Is that the fashion in Town this season?"

Donna looked. "What? Oh, the sling, no, that's just Chloe." She pulled back the material a little, revealing the baby. "Just a way to carry her around and keep my hands free for smacking my husband," said Donna with a smile.

"Ingenious," said the woman.

"Sorry, we're being rude," said the Doctor. "I'm the Doctor, this is my wife, Donna Noble, that is Chloe and there are some others, but we really should be going."

The woman curtsied. "It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir. I am Jane Austen."

"What?," said Donna.

Jane looked at them in surprise. "Is my reputation so notorious?"

"No!," said Donna. "It's just that I-"

"Donna," said the Doctor, pulling her aside, he whispered quickly. "It's seventeen ninety-six. She hasn't published anything yet, she's just written a first draft of Pride and Prejudice."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Fine. Not saying anything, no destroying the Earth, got it." She turned to Jane. "Will you excuse me just one moment?"

Donna ran back in the TARDIS. The Doctor was left to smile at Jane politely.

"Your wife is most spirited, sir," said Jane.

"You don't know the half of it," replied the Doctor.

* * *

><p>The others attempted to decipher the suddenly elated look on Donna's face as she re-entered the TARDIS.<p>

"Martha! It's Jane bloody Austen!," she said,

"Jane Austen?"

"What? Seriously?," asked Amy.

"Oh, my God! We're meeting Jane Austen!," said Martha.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Jack.

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><p>Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor looked at Jane.<p>

"You seem to be taking this all rather well," he said.

"Pray tell your meaning, sir."

"Blue box lands in your sitting room, two people step out of it, well, three if you count the baby and you haven't run out of here screaming."

"I leave the dramatics for my mother, sir. She is best suited to it."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "But it's not as if it's the sort of thing that happens in Hampshire everyday..."

Jane smiled. "Your accounts of Hampshire must be quite out of date then, sir. We've had many strange occurrences as of late."

"Really? In Hampshire?"

"Surely, you have heard about the apparitions that have plagued Steventon this spring."

"Apparitions? You mean ghosts?"

Donna, Martha and Amy carrying Zara bounded back out of the TARDIS. The Doctor gave them an exasperated look.

"They just wanted to make Miss Austen's acquaintance..." said Donna.

"Miss Jane," he corrected.

"Yeah, okay," said Donna, "this is Miss Amelia Pond and Doctor Martha Jones and the little one is our oldest daughter, Zara."

Jane curtsied again. "Miss Pond, Doctor Jones."

"Hi," said Amy, with a goofy smile.

"Hi," said Martha, with a similar smile.

"Hi," said Zara.

"Well, hello, Miss Noble," said Jane with an amused smile.

"Smith-Noble," said Donna, "but that's alright, that's just this thing."

"Miss Jane was just telling me of the apparitions in Steventon as of late," said the Doctor.

"What? You mean like ghosts?," asked Martha. "But she doesn't write-"

The Doctor cleared his throat and rolled his eyes. Martha stopped.

"Never mind," said Martha, she said trying to put off Jane's suspicious look.

"What sort of apparitions?," asked Amy, putting Zara down on the floor.

"Well, the first appeared at the church during my father's sermon, a fortnight ago," said Jane. "A glowing form, with the voice of a girl, shouting some sort of babble. The shock and the stress put my mother to her bed, I am sad to report. News of it reached the Archbishop of Canterbury and so my father was obligated to journey to London to report on it."

"Can you describe it?," asked the Doctor.

"My sister has done some watercolors, would that be useful?"

"May we see them?," asked the Doctor.

"I shall fetch my sister. I am sure she would be most happy to make your acquaintance. Excuse me." Jane curtsied and left the room.

At which point Amy and Martha lost all composure.

"We're in Jane Austen's house!," said Amy.

"And there's ghosts," said Martha. "Why are there ghosts?"

Jack, Ianto and Rory came out of the TARDIS.

"Okay, are we staying at Jane Austen's all day?," asked Jack.

"You watch your behavior," said Donna.

"What did I do?"

Donna walked closer. "I'm not having you run round seducing impressionable young girls along the countryside and ruining their reputations! For all we know, you're the inspiration for Mr. Wickham!"

Jack looked appalled. "I am not Mr. Wickham! When have I ever seduced anyone to get their fortune?"

"I know, you just do it for the sport," said Donna.

"So, I guess I'm not that high in the godfather rankings then?"

Donna rolled her eyes.

"You read Pride and Prejudice?," asked Ianto.

"No," scoffed Jack. "I watched the miniseries. Colin Firth in the lake..." he trailed off dreamily.

"So, we are staying with Jane Austen then?," asked Rory. He paused. "Why is it the longer I spend with you the more I keep having to say sentences I thought I would never say?"

"Jane Austen's being haunted," said Amy.

"Right," said Ianto, he looked at Rory. "That would be another one."

"Definitely," agreed Rory.

"We ought to make a list."

Jane came back in the sitting room with her sister, a tall, blonde woman, a bit older than her.

"There are more of you," said Jane.

"Yeah, sorry," said the Doctor. "This is Mister Rory Williams, Mister Ianto Jones and Captain Jack Harkness."

"This is my elder sister, Cassandra."

Ianto's mobile rang.

"What is that?," asked Cassandra.

"Nothing, just this toy..." he took it aside.

"You didn't put your mobile on silent?," asked Jack.

"I've never visited the past before! I don't know the protocol!" He walked away and talked quietly on the phone.

They finished the rest of the introductions and Cassandra showed them some paintings of a glowing golden form as they took seats and the servants brought in tea, wondering all the while why they had never seen these particular guests enter the house.

"What do you think?," Donna asked the Doctor.

"That's not a ghost," said the Doctor, "looks like some sort of massive energy discharge..."

"Exactly what would a ghost look like?," asked Rory.

Donna sighed. "Energy discharge is Martian for...?"

Cassandra and Jane exchanged curious glances about the visitors who had just appeared in the sitting room and seemed to talk such nonsense.

Ianto came back to the group. "Sorry to interrupt, that was Gwen. There's a glowing form that appeared in the Hub and then on the Plass."

The Doctor held up the watercolor. "Like that?"

"I suppose..."

"Do you mean to say they have the same apparitions in other places?," Jane asked in surprise.

"In Wales even," said Jack.

"I know," said the Doctor taking Zara into his lap.

"I don't understand," said Amy. "How can the same ghost be in 1796 and 2010?"

"In different places?," added Martha. "What's the connection?"

The Doctor realized all eyes were trained on him.

He looked at Donna. "I thought you wanted to go home."

Donna shook her head. "Yeah, don't think so."

"Shall I ask the servants to set some more places for dinner?," asked Jane.

"If it's not too much trouble," answered the Doctor with a grin.

"It is a great deal of trouble, sir," said Jane with a smile, "but it shall be worth it if you can shed some light on these frightening events."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna, Jane Austen or anyone. Seriously. Sorry it was so long since the last update, it's the product of illness and injury and sleep deprivation. Thank you so much for the reviews last chapter, I'm glad you're all excited. I hope I don't disappoint. Please enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think. Happy reading!

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><p>They all had dinner in the large dining room. There were many dishes laid out for them, starting with a soup, then a variety of meats put on the table all at once. Donna made the comment it was very Atkins-friendly to the further confusion of Cassandra and Jane. The second course was meant to be lighter, but another ten dishes appeared on the table with jellies and creams meant to accompany the meats. Then dessert came, a selection of fruit and cheese. After dinner, they returned to the drawing room and Jane briefly excused herself to check on her mother as Cassandra played on the piano forte. She returned shortly.<p>

"How's your mother?," asked Donna.

"She regrets not being able to receive you all, she still feels quite unwell."

"Oh, too bad," said the Doctor. "I love meeting people's mothers."

"Since when?," snorted Martha.

Jane sat down.

"So, Miss Jane, what do you do?," asked Amy.

"I am sorry, Miss Pond?"

"Well, your sister's shown us she's quite the artist and a musician," said Amy.

"Yeah," said Martha, "got any hobbies?"

"I do needlepoint, play the pianoforte..."

"Jane is a writer," said Cassandra with a smile.

"A writer?," asked Donna, shifting Chloe from one arm to the other. "What do you write?"

"Trifles, really," said Jane.

"No," said Donna, "I'm sure you ought to give yourself more credit."

"Jane has started the most interesting work," said Cassandra. "Our family is most taken with it. A novel entitled First Impressions."

"Oh," said Amy, "perhaps we could hear some of it."

The Doctor glared again, but Amy, Martha and Donna were all smiles. Jane, being a proper hostess, was obliged to agree to their request. She went upstairs again and returned with a manuscript.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters..."

As Jane read the women were enraptured. Rory and Jack kept exchanging glances in silent agreement that they were begging for it to end.

"I fear I may be boring you," said Jane.

"No, no, no," said Donna. She motioned at Jack. "Don't pay attention to him."

"No, I must insist."

Cassandra smiled. "Perhaps one of you could do us the honor of entertaining."

"Uh, entertaining," said Martha.

"Right!," said the Doctor. "Entertainment! It's what polite guests do..."

"Right!," said Amy, standing up. "Anyone play the piano?"

Jack looked at Ianto and he groaned. "I do..."

"Great."

Amy and Ianto walked over to the piano and whispered conspiratorially. Finally, Ianto sat and Amy stood in front of the piano forte.

"So, you may not know this song," said Amy. "It's from where I'm from."

"In Scotland?," asked Cassandra.

"Yeah," said Amy. "But it's gotten around."

Ianto started playing and it was unmistakable to everyone but Jane, Cassandra and the Doctor right away.

"Oh, God," said Rory, sitting next to the Doctor.

"What?," asked the Doctor.

"It's her go to song on Rock Band, she's plays it on difficult. She makes me play it every time, you know, just one time I'd like to play Pinball Wizard."

The Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion and bounced Zara on his knee as he turned to watch Amy.

"Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world She took the midnight train goin' anywhere Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit He took the midnight train goin' anywhere."

Martha used her hand to cover her smile. Donna was holding Chloe in her arms and had no such cover so simply gritted her teeth to keep from laughing. Jack shook his head and by the chorus had taken out a lighter to wave it.

Jane and Cassandra began the applause. Amy and Ianto stood and bowed slightly.

"Such an unusual song," commented Cassandra.

"Yes," Jane agreed. "Such interesting words. Pray tell, what is a movie? And why does it never end?"

"Oh," said Amy, "that's just this thing, a sort of you know, picture story."

"That axiom in the middle," said Cassandra. "'Some will win, some will lose, some are born to sing the blues', I quite like that. Perhaps I shall do a needlepoint of it."

Donna buried her face in the Doctor's shoulder to hide the laughter that was so desperate to come out.

"Are you alright, Mrs. Smith-Noble?." asked Jane.

"Oh, I'm fine," said Donna. "Just a bit tired."

"Oh, we can't go to bed yet," said Jack. "Ianto hasn't played Freebird."

Martha jabbed him with her elbow.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should adjourn for the night," said the Doctor, "and in the morning perhaps Miss Austen or Miss Jane would be so kind as to show me the site of the apparition."

"I should be happy to show you, Doctor," said Cassandra.

* * *

><p>The group filed back into the TARDIS after saying good night to the Austen sisters, exhausted by the combined events of the past few days. Chloe was fast asleep in Donna's arms and Zara had started to bury her face in the Doctor's chest.<p>

"I can't believe you got Jane Austen to let you borrow her manuscript," said Martha.

"I do have some powers of persuasion," Donna said with a smile.

"I'm just saying, Amy, what if Jane Austen writes down the lyrics to Don't Stop Believin'?," asked Rory. "Then how is Journey going to write it?"

"Are you that worried about Journey, Rory?," asked Amy. "Besides, isn't it all just wibbly wobbly timey wimey?"

"Yeah," said Jack, "besides, they've still got 'Any Way You Want It.'"

"I'm more concerned about the finale of The Sopranos," said Ianto.

"I never saw the very end of that," said the Doctor, shifting Zara "The TARDIS communications system just cut to black."

The others looked at each other.

"What?," asked the Doctor. "What did I miss?"

"That's how The Sopranos ends," said Rory.

"What do you mean that's how it ends?," asked the Doctor.

"At the end, it just cuts to black," said Donna. "That's the ending."

"What?," asked the Doctor. "That's the ending? What sort of rubbish ending is that?"

"What about the apparition?," asked Martha. "How can they be seing the same thing in Cardiff and here?"

"I don't know," said the Doctor. "Some sort of temporal displacement?"

"You know, back at the Time Agency there was this story going around about this creature of the Vortex, appeared in different spots throughout time for a few moments and left."

Donna snorted and motioned at the Doctor. "Sure that wasn't just him?"

"What's a Time Agency?," asked Rory. "Did you adjust clocks or something?"

"But the Time Vortex, can something just live inside the Time Vortex?," asked Amy.

The Doctor ignored that. "That's just a myth. There's no creature of the Time Vortex."

"Yeah," said Amy, "you always say that."

"Bed," whined Zara.

"Well, let's go to sleep and start fresh in the morning," said the Doctor.

* * *

><p>The Doctor didn't need much sleep, but his family did. In the time he had to pose as human, he had gotten really good at faking it. He could lie down, curl up next to Donna and stay quiet, but not entirely still. He had decided that was the trick to it, moving every so often and letting out a sigh. One time he had tried to see how far he could go with it, pretending to be asleep while Donna tried to "wake" him and she had finally smacked him. Sometimes, though, he found himself actually sleeping or tired and this was one of those times.<p>

Donna was busy reading Jane's manuscript. She had sworn to give it back and had read it as she nursed Chloe, then Zara, then Chloe again and there was a lot of back and forth going on and Donna had managed to finish the whole thing, in the time she had been nursing. The volume was quite a bit shorter than the book known as Pride and Prejudice and had some very different plot points.

"I don't understand this," said Donna, as Chloe nursed in her arms and she held the book in her hand.

The Doctor was on his side of the bed, now shared by Zara, who slept in the crook of his arm, in a bid to do his part to keep the elder girl from reclaiming her territory, namely Donna. It wasn't working as well as he would have liked, as Zara awoke intermittently, realized her mummy's attention was being otherwise diverted and tried to get Donna to put up the baby.

"I said I don't understand this," said Donna.

The Doctor sighed. "What about it?"

"There's no Mr. Darcy."

"What?"

"There's no Mr. Darcy. I know it's a first draft and everything, but you would think he would be in there. This story is all about evil Mister Wickham and how he ruins the family and seduces poor Elizabeth."

"Well, at least we know Jack wasn't the inspiration," the Doctor said with a smile.

"This is seriously the most depressing story I've ever read," Donna said, putting the book on the night table.

The Doctor sighed. "Maybe she meets the inspiration for Mr. Darcy later."

"Maybe the ghost is Mr. Darcy," said Donna.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Why would the ghost be Mr. Darcy?"

"I don't know, that's usually how these things work out with you."

"Why this obsession with Mr. Darcy?"

Donna scoffed. "Why?"

"Oh, yes, it carries on much further than your time, goes on to other species, Mr. Darcy through the ages. I'll have to show you the Catkind version of Pride and Prejudice, of course, there's no lake scene."

"Do cats make adaptations of everything?"

"Well, mostly. They even do a version of Cats where they dress up in people costumes. It's called 'Humans.'"

Donna sighed. "I don't know. He's so mysterious and reserved with his feelings."

The Doctor sat up. "Wait a minute, if that's all, why is it when I was mysterious and reserved with my feelings all I heard was 'Stop being so angst-ridden, Time Boy'?"

Donna shook her head. "Well, that's different."

"That's different," he parroted back.

"I feel sorry for Jane and Cassandra," said Donna. "They're both so nice and talented and they never get married. End up old spinsters."

"It's not so bad," said the Doctor. "Not everyone is destined to get married. Look at Jack."

"Yes, but, they're single in a time where that's not a exactly a great option, not that it's much better now, mind you. I started getting stared at when I was twenty-eight as if I was some sort of carnival freak. 'Oh, still single, Donna?'"

"You were waiting for the right man, remember? Or rather the right Time Lord."

"You are so smug."

Zara's eyes opened. She looked at Chloe. "Move, baby."

Donna smiled at Zara. "Remember, sweetheart, we talked about how new babies need lots of love from their mummies?"

"Zara baby."

"Oh, but Chloe's a brand new baby," said the Doctor. "She's only on day two and you're on day four hundred and twenty."

Zara started sobbing. Donna winced.

"Zara milk!"

"Oh, sweetheart," said Donna. She motioned. "Come here and you can cuddle Mummy."

Zara quickly saw an opening and made for Donna's unoccupied breast before she could be stopped. Donna groaned and looked at the Doctor.

"You could have helped," she said.

"You asked her over," he protested. "Blimey, she is quick, isn't she?"

A mobile began to ring. Donna looked at the Doctor.

"Are you going to get that?," she asked.

"It's your mobile, isn't it?"

"You are being such a bloke right now," said Donna.

"Oh," said the Doctor. "Want me to get it?"

"Yes. That would be lovely."

The Doctor walked around and got the mobile off the night table. "It's your mother."

"Don't tell her about Chloe," said Donna.

He furrowed his brow. "I think she's going to find out."

"She wanted to see the birth, I promised she would, just act as if it didn't happen yet which it didn't because we're in seventeen ninety six."

"She's clearly been born," said the Doctor. "That would be lying."

"Yeah, and you've never lied."

"Point taken," said the Doctor as he answered the mobile. "Hello, Sylvia!"

"Don't hello me, where are you, you silly alien?"

"Why?," asked the Doctor.

"There's a gold ghost in my back garden!"


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, or Donna or anyone. I know it's been a long time between updates, injury, illness and I did a 10K which is where a lot of the injury was incurred while trying to prep for it. Anyway, thank you for the reads and reviews. Please let me know what you think of this one and enjoy. Happy reading!

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><p>There are certain things one never quite expects when one has a daughter.<p>

The one that stuck out for Sylvia Noble was that she never thought her daughter would marry an alien or that she would have half alien grandchildren. She hadn't exactly been warm to the idea at first, but she was eventually won over by Zara herself. Grandchildren were grandchildren.

Gold ghosts in her back garden. That was another thing. She had been out watering the roses and suddenly the great blooming thing was there talking some nonsense. She had expected her call to the Doctor to be immediately followed by the arrival of a blue box. After all, being the silly alien's mother-in-law, that ought to get her some preferential treatment, but it was instead followed six hours later by the arrival of Mickey Smith and him waving some strange looking scanners around the garden as her father eagerly joined in.

"Yeah, there it is, temporal displacement, just like the one at the Rift."

"The Rift?," asked Sylvia.

"I told you about that," said Wilf. "The rift in time and space where everything washes up in Cardiff. That's why I went there to help Ianto catch the Pternadon."

Sylvia scoffed. "Don't suppose you know when my daughter and her husband will bother showing up now that I've been haunted?," she asked Mickey.

"I'm sure they're busy, love," said Wilf. It was so infuriating the way her father took that man's side in everything.

"Yeah," said Mickey in agreement, "the same ghost is haunting Jane Austen."

"Jane Austen?," asked Sylvia.

"Ianto said Donna was pretty keen on staying there," said Mickey. "I reckon the Doctor owes her one after the birth."

"The what?," screeched Sylvia.

"The baby?," asked Mickey. "The space cave? Didn't Donna mention it?"

"No," Sylvia said stiffly.

"I'm sure they couldn't help it, love," said Wilf.

"I'll be in the house if you need me," said Sylvia. "Clearly most people don't."

Before Wilf or Mickey could say anything, she had slammed the door and was back in the house.

* * *

><p>The Doctor walked into Chloe's nursery to find Donna rocking her in a chair. Esther lay in the corner.<p>

"Good morning," he said.

"Good morning."

"You brought her in here?"

"She's been fussy and I didn't want to wake Zara."

"Right," said the Doctor, "Miss Austen is set to show us the church this morning. Ianto, Martha and I are going to go. Why don't I take Zara?"

"Sure. I'll get ready," said Donna.

The Doctor cringed. "No, I meant, I'll take Zara."

Donna looked up. "What? Without me?"

"It's just a trip to see a church, Donna."

"But..." Donna sighed.

"I think Zara might adjust better if she learned to go places without you. You two have been joined for years."

"Twice," said Donna. "Time Beetle universe and here."

"I know. I just think it might be easier if we got her used to the idea of you two being separated."

Donna didn't like the sound of that one bit. She wasn't certain if it was because of pregnancy hormones or how dejected Zara looked every time Donna chose Chloe over her.

The Doctor could read the doubt on Donna's face. "It's just to the church and back, Donna."

Donna nodded. "Yeah, I'm just being silly. Go on then," she said not convincing either one.

The Doctor gave her a kiss and left the nursery. Donna bit her lip in a bid not to cry.

"Stupid hormones," she muttered.

* * *

><p>Zara was appalled at the idea of leaving Mummy alone with the baby, but was mollified by the offer of a piggy back ride from Uncle Jack. The Doctor could say a lot of things about Jack, but he was good with kids, probably because he was one or was at least very similar. This did not stop Zara from mentioning Donna at every opportunity, such as when they passed the milliner's and she insisted they buy a hat for Mummy, then shouted to a passing redhead that her mummy was also a ginger. After greeting more of Steventon's residents in this manner, Cassandra finally led the Doctor, Jack, Ianto and Martha under Zara's supervision to the church where the apparition had appeared.<p>

"Where did it stand exactly?," asked the Doctor.

"Just to the right of the pulpit," said Jane.

The Doctor bounded up the steps and took out his sonic screwdriver. "Not much this way." He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out the Hello Kitty Timey Wimey Detector. "Oh, not this one!"

"Kitty!," cried Zara, as Jack swung her in front of him.

"Is that Hello Kitty?," asked Jack.

"It's a long story," said the Doctor.

"We're not going anywhere," said Martha with a smile.

"Never mind," he said, flipping it on.

"I was just asking. I mean, who's going to be frightened of the Oncoming Storm and his Hello Kitty accessories?," asked Martha.

"It was all I had to work with at the time, it's Zara's when she's older."

"Mummy fought kitty," said Zara.

"She did?," asked Jack.

"Mean kitty," said Zara.

"I would love to hear that story."

The Doctor ignored them all and looked at the readings on the scanner. Ianto's mobile rang. They all glared at him.

"Right," said Ianto. "There's that toy again." He took it out. "It's Mickey, he's sending the data."

"Let me see," said the Doctor.

"Also, he mentions Sylvia is rather cross about the birth."

"You didn't tell her?," asked Martha.

"Donna said not to!," the Doctor protested.

Ianto walked over with the mobile and sat crouched next to the Doctor.

"Well," mused the Doctor, "that's definitely the same entity."

"Sylvia's house, the Hub and here in Steventon," said Jack. "Do you want to tell me what those places have in common?"

"No idea," said the Doctor. He looked over at Martha who was staring at him.

"You, Doctor," said Martha. "They have you in common."

"Me?," asked the Doctor.

"Ianto," said Jack, "call Gwen and have her search all the records for a gold ghost. I bet if it's turned up in these places, it's already turned up somewhere else."

"Me?," the Doctor squeaked in disbelief.

"Daddy!," said Zara.

* * *

><p>They walked back down the path to the house. The Doctor's Timey Wimey Detector was still on and it went ding.<p>

"You didn't turn that off?," asked Martha. "What about the chickens?"

The Doctor took a look at the scanner. It was pointing in the distance.

"What's that way?," he asked Cassandra.

"It is Wetherfield, the estate of Mister Fitzwilliam," she answered.

"Mister Fitzwilliam?," asked Martha, interest piqued.

"Who's he?," asked the Doctor. "New in town?"

"No, he comes from one of the most distinguished families in the country."

The Doctor let out a breath. "Oh, that would have been too easy? Shall we take a walk?"

"To Wetherfield?," asked Cassandra. "It is three miles. We have no carriage."

"Oh, right," said the Doctor. "Well, we'll just go then."

They split from Cassandra and started up the road to Mister Fitzwilliam's house. The Doctor carried Zara on his shoulders as they walked up the hill.

"You know, Miss Austen may have had a point," said Ianto.

"Worried about getting your shoes dirty?," asked Jack.

"I only brought one pair of shoes on this trip," Ianto protested.

"Have a look in the TARDIS wardrobe," said Jack. "I'm sure the Doctor has something."

"Yes, it'll come in handy if I need to play cricket."

"Oi!," said the Doctor.

"Don't gripe to me about walking three miles," said Martha.

Zara put her hands over the Doctor's eyes. "Peekaboo!"

"Oh, Zara, Daddy really needs to see."

They finally arrived at the house, a grand place that seemed to impress more the closer they got. Martha made Pemberley comparisons, Jack spotted a pond and suggested Ianto jump in. They finally arrived at the house and the Doctor knocked on the door and an elderly maid answered.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor, this is Miss Smith-Noble, Doctor Jones, Mister Jones and Captain Harkness. We were interested in seeing the house. Is the family in residence?"

"Yes, they are," said the maid.

"Well," said Jack, "don't suppose that we could have a look around anyway?"

"No. Mister Fitzwilliam was very clear. There are to be no visitors in the house while he is not home."

"Well," said the Doctor, flashing the psychic paper, "surely you can make an exception."

"No," said the maid, slamming the door.

"What was that?," asked Jack.

The Doctor looked at the psychic paper. "What's wrong with it? It's not broken." He thrust it at Ianto. "There. What does that say?"

"It says you're the Duke of Marlborough," Ianto said with a raised brow.

"Maybe she really can't let us in," said Martha.

"So? The psychic paper always works!"

"It'll be alright, Doctor," said Ianto. "We can go back to the village and you can try it on someone else."

"We need to get in the house," said the Doctor.

"Need Mummy," said Zara plaintively.

"Well, I think you've got your orders," said Jack. "Back to Mummy."

They started off. The Doctor stared at the house, wondering what Mister Fitzwilliam was hiding.

* * *

><p>Donna sat with Jane in the sitting room. She had come out almost immediately after Zara had left. She couldn't put her finger on it, but hated being apart from her right now. Amy and Rory had stayed a while, but eventually went off to explore the village. Meanwhile, Chloe slept in her arms as she and Jane chatted.<p>

"You take a very involved approach with your children, Mrs. Smith-Noble," said Jane as she did a needlepoint,

"Oh?," asked Donna. "How's that?"

"Well, Zara has not gone to stay with a nurse?"

"Who? Rory?"

"Mr. Williams is a nurse?," Jane asked in utter confusion.

"Yeah, don't think about that too much. Do you mean send her away?," asked Donna, remembering something in Jane's biography. "We could never send them away to be raised by someone else. I don't even know what I would do if I had to leave them with a sitter."

"The Doctor is very involved as well."

Donna snorted. "He ought to be. He certainly wanted them."

Jane blushed. "He takes great stock in your opinion," commented Jane. "If I were able to find such a husband, I do not think I would mind being married."

There was a knock at the door. The young maid entered. "Mister Fitzwilliam is here to see you, Miss Jane."

Jane sighed. "Oh, dear. Send him in."

The maid curtsied and left.

"Sorry," said Donna, interest very much piqued, "who's that?"

"A most disagreeable man. I cannot stand him, but we must be civil."

The door opened. A young man with dark hair entered. Jane stood and Donna followed suit. He bowed, Jane curtsied and so did Donna.

"Miss Jane."

"Mr. Fitzwilliam, allow me the honor of introducing you to Mrs. Smith-Noble. She, her husband and their companions are our guests."

"Mrs. Smith-Noble," he said.

"Mr. Dar-Fitzwilliam," she said. "Sorry."

"I came to issue an invitation to the Misses Austen," said Fitzwilliam. "I am having a ball at Wetherfield tomorrow evening and would be delighted if you could come. Of course, Mrs. Smith-Noble you and your party are welcome if you are still with us in Hampshire."

"You surprise me, sir," said Jane. "Such an impending invitation, hardly enough time for your guests to prepare. More surprising that you could take pleasure in such a diversion, given how little you danced at the Assembly Rooms."

Mr. Fitzwilliam glowered. At that, Donna reached in her pocket for her iPhone. Martha and Amy wouldn't believe her otherwise.

"I do not do so because I take pleasure in such things, Miss Jane, but my young cousins have recently joined my household. The elder is fifteen and in great need of polite society. Given the circumstances, Hampshire will have to do."

Now Jane was the one glaring. "I wonder that you care at all about the social order, considering the disdain you seem to show for it." Jane looked at Donna. "What are you holding, Madame?"

"iPhone, just making a video. Ignore it," said Donna.

"What is an iPhone?," asked Mr. Fitzwilliam.

"It's just this thing..." said Donna. She cleared her throat. "My party and I would be delighted to attend. Thank you."

Mr. Fitzwilliam bowed slightly. "I bid good day to you, Madame. Miss Jane."

He left. Jane still seemed flustered.

"Proud, disagreeable man," she spat.

"This ball at the Assembly Rooms," said Donna, "don't suppose he refused to dance even though there were far more ladies than gentlemen in attendance and many were in want of a partner?"

"Yes! You have it exact!," exclaimed Jane. "This invitation strikes me as so surprising. He has no regard for dancing. In fact he said-"

"Any savage can dance?," asked Donna.

"You are uncanny, Madame."

"Yeah," said Donna. "I get that sometimes."

* * *

><p>"A ball!," said Amy. "We're going to a bloody ball in 1796!," shouted Amy as soon as they were all safely back in the TARDIS after another evening with the Austen sisters. Dinner had been similarly filling and the sisters at Jack's suggestion had finally coaxed Ianto into playing Freebird.<p>

"Do we get to dress up?," asked Martha.

"Oh, God, do we have to dress up?," asked Rory.

"Ought to try to blend in," said the Doctor.

Rory turned to look at him. "Do you think you blend in?"

The Doctor looked at his clothes. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" He looked over at Donna.

"Nothing," she said. She looked down at Zara. "Come on. Bath time."

Donna left with Zara and Chloe.

"So, Mister Fitzwilliam, it all has to do with Wetherfield," said the Doctor.

"But you found evidence on the Timey Wimey Detector, not the same readings as at the church," said Jack.

"What? It's just unrelated time travelers in Hampshire in 1796?," asked Ianto.

"Yeah," said Jack.

"In the morning, we need to find out more about Mister Fitzwilliam," said the Doctor. "Find out what he's hiding."

"I'm going to go look in the wardrobe," said Amy excitedly.

"I'm with you," said Martha.

"So," said Ianto, "we don't all have to go, do we?"

"Oh, come on, Ianto," said Jack. "I bet you'll look cute in breeches."

Rory rolled his eyes and looked at the Doctor. "You couldn't take us to somewhere cool in the past? Like Rome? I bet Rome's fun."

* * *

><p>The Doctor stirred as Chloe made her tenth cry of the night. He looked over at Donna who was being clutched onto by Zara in her latest bid to reclaim her territory.<p>

"Baby cries," Zara said with a pout.

"Yes, she does," said the Doctor.

"What's going on?," Donna asked only half-conscious.

"Nothing, I've got her," said the Doctor.

The Doctor got up and walked over to the bassinet on Donna's side of the bed. He plucked Chloe out and started to soothe her.

"Come on, you."

"Daddy..." whined Zara.

"Shh, go back to sleep," he whispered.

The Doctor took Chloe for a walk around the TARDIS and through the console room.

"You do like to make a lot of noise, don't you?," asked the Doctor. "Here, let's take some air."

The Doctor walked out of the TARDIS and into the Austen sitting room. It was dark, the halls lit by candles. Outside was pitch black.

"Oh, see, Chloe, this is brilliant. 1796, no street lamps. Look at the stars. Born in the seventy first century, next day you're here, isn't that great?," he asked bouncing her.

He paused.

"Oh, we're time travellers and you're a Time Baby. I thought you knew that. Did your mother not mention it?"

"Daddy!"

He turned to see Zara pointing at the gold form. It was just across from the road, shimmering, the edges blurry as it lurched forward towards the little girl. His hearts dropped.

"Zara! Get away from it!"

Zara tried to obey but the form placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let her go! Let her go!"

"Daddy!," Zara screamed.

The Doctor adjusted Chloe in his arms and ran towards Zara. He wrapped his free arm around her.

"It wants to take me!," Sobbed Zara.

"It's not taking you anywhere," said the Doctor as Chloe joined in with screaming. He looked at the form. "Let her go! She's just a little girl!"

The Austen house began to stir as the Doctor held onto Zara.

"Daddy..."

"Hang on, Zara." He looked up at the form. "There's no cause for this! Let her go!"

One of the manservants ran out. "Sir!"

"Fetch Captain Harkness!"

The manservant moved to do so but as he did Donna was already running out. Hot on her heels were Jack and Ianto.

"Mummy!," screamed Zara.

"I'm here, I'm here." The Doctor was about to instruct Donna to try holding onto Zara, but it was unnecessary. She had already thrown her arms around the little girl as the form seemed to grow in size. Without being asked, Ianto took the baby from the Doctor as Jack went to help Donna.

"Something's wrong with it," said the Doctor. "It's in temporal flux. She's caught up in its energy field. Just hang on to her, try to overwhelm its capacity."

"I don't want to go, Mummy," said Zara, quickly losing composure. "No go."

"You're not going anywhere," said Donna, determined to hold on to her, even as the being began spiking golden droplets onto Donna. They stung and the Doctor watched as Donna winced. Jack moved to shield them as Martha, Amy, Rory joined them. By now the Austen house was awakening, candles being lit and the servants coming to help, but standing around with no idea what to do.

"What do we do?," asked Jack.

"No go!," screamed Zara having the toddler equivalent of a nervous breakdown.

"Is that what it says it wants, Zara?," asked the Doctor. "It wants you to go?"

Zara couldn't answer. She just shook her head. "No go!"

"You're not going anywhere," Donna said again. She looked up at the head of the form. "Do you bloody well hear me? She's not going anywhere!"

The form struck a bolt into Donna and she flew into the air as Zara screamed for her. Jack deftly grabbed hold of Zara before the form could make an escape. Martha and Rory ran to Donna's side.

Jack looked up at the form. It was growing larger and looming into the sky over the house even. The Doctor moved to speak to it.

"Why does she have to go?," he shouted. "What do you want from her?"

"You, Doctor..." A long pause. "You."

A shiver went down the Doctor's spine. "Then take me! Take me and leave her alone!"

"You."

He pushed the button on the sonic and the gold form dispersed, leaving Zara ensconced in Jack's arms as Donna began to stir.

"There, beautiful," Jack said with a big smile. "Nothing to be scared of."

The Doctor rushed to her side. "It's alright, you're safe, you're safe," said the Doctor, as Jack released her.

"Mummy!"

Donna sat up and rushed towards Zara, ignoring Martha's pleas for her to go slowly. "It's okay."

"What the hell was that thing?," Amy asked plainly. "It just grew right in front of us!"

"Some sort of quantum energy dispersal, on a massive, massive scale."

"Why does it want Zara?," asked Amy.

Donna turned to face the Doctor, the question in her eyes.

"I don't know," said the Doctor.

"It's okay, Zara," said Donna, squeezing her tighter. "You're not going anywhere. Never ever."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna or any of the characters or songs I may have pilfered. Thanks for the reads and the reviews. I hope you like this one, serious timey-wimey ness going on in this one. Let me know what you think and happy reading!

* * *

><p>Rhys Williams entered the Torchwood Hub.<p>

"What? You're the only one here?," he asked. "Where's the new girl?"

"Called in sick. Again," said Gwen.

"And the rest?"

"I told you, Jack, Martha and Ianto went to a space cave and are now staying with Jane Austen. Mickey's gone to London because of the gold ghost in Mrs. Noble's backyard."

Rhys was silent for a good two minutes as Gwen typed away on the Torchwood database.

"Why was Jane Austen in the space cave?"

"How should I know?," asked Gwen.

"You didn't ask?"

"Not really."

"Well, how long do you have to stay here?"

"Until I've found every reference in history to a gold ghost that appears out of nowhere, acts strangely and disappears again."

"Well, how long's that going to take?"

"Bloody hell, Rhys, I don't know!"

* * *

><p>It had taken a while to get the villagers to disperse and to put the Austen sisters at ease. They were soon distracted anyway because their mother had managed to see the ghost from her bedroom window and was insisting upon a physician being called for her nerves. They had finally adjourned to the TARDIS and were talking in the console room. Rory had been handed Chloe after Jack needed Ianto to help him scan the vicinity and had been holding her ever since. So far, no one had given any indication that they intended to take her from him and since she hadn't made a sound, no one wanted to disturb the status quo.<p>

"So," said Jack, "the entity or whatever it is, wants Zara. What does it need Zara for?"

The Doctor sat distractedly on the jump seat. He hadn't spoken which had everyone on edge, making Jack feel the need to fill the air.

"What? Do you think it's just following the Doctor around?," asked Martha.

"That's sort of pathetic, isn't it?," asked Amy.

"It was at Mrs. Noble's," Ianto offered. "Mickey's readings were exactly the same as what we found at the church and outside this evening."

"But not the house," said Amy.

"Um, how long am I holding her?," Rory finally asked.

"Come on, Rory, we're trying to think," said Amy.

"So, it's a creature following Zara through time and space, to do what? I mean, what's Zara got to do with anything, she's just a little girl," said Martha.

"Not just any little girl," said the Doctor. "A Time Baby."

"We're back to save the ginger Time Babies again, aren't we?," asked Ianto.

"Save the ginger Time Babies?," asked Amy.

"We really should have those t-shirts made," said Jack.

"We never got the Team Donna shirts," said Martha.

"Team Donna?," asked Amy.

The Doctor shook his head. "We're not doing that again."

"If there's a Team Donna, who is the other team?," asked Amy.

"Rose," said Martha.

"Who's Rose?"

"Could we not go into this?," asked the Doctor.

"The Doctor's ex-girlfriend, stalked him from another universe," said Ianto.

"How do you stalk someone from another universe?," asked Rory.

"Ianto, you never even met Rose," said the Doctor.

"Mickey told me everything I need to know, really."

The Doctor groaned. "I'm missing something."

He got up and walked away.

"Did he just leave?," asked Amy.

"Yeah," said Jack. "He's thinking."

"But I'm still holding the baby," Rory protested.

"Okay, we'll take shifts," said Jack. "Two hours each. Rory, you take the first shift. Better get some sleep, people."

They all walked out, leaving Rory holding the baby.

"But I've already been holding her," he protested to an empty room. He looked down at Chloe. "There aren't really going to be any shifts, are there?"

* * *

><p>The Doctor tiptoed into Zara's nursery quietly, as Donna sang to Zara.<p>

"_Reel me in my precious girl, come on take me home, cause my body's tired of travelling and my love don't wish to roam..._"

Zara had clung to Donna from the second of their reunion, all the way back into the TARDIS and her nursery. Donna had given her another bath to calm her down, put her in the fresh pajamas the TARDIS had waiting and reunited her with Mr. Scallofrax and Pooh Bear.

Donna looked up at the Doctor. "Is it Chloe?"

"No, Rory's got her now. She's fine." The Doctor knelt down. "Zara..."

She didn't answer, just burrowed her face into Donna's chest.

"Zara, it's important..." he drew a deep breath. "You said it wanted you."

Zara whined. Donna looked up at the Doctor. "Don't. She's too upset."

"It's important, Donna." He scooped her up. "Come on, come to Daddy for a second."

The Doctor smoothed Zara's hair out as she stared at him.

"Come on, Zara, you don't even have to tell me. Just show Daddy," he said.

"Doctor, please don't," Donna said as she watched him put his hand on her temple.

The Doctor was hoping to get at what Zara had sensed from the form, but instead he saw Donna. She didn't look like herself, she looked tired, worn down. Even when she was tired, she never looked quite like this. They were somewhere he had never seen before, some kind of waiting room. Zara jumped on a chair impatiently.

"Be careful, you," said Donna with a smile. "Don't want to get in an accident in the waiting room of the clinic. At the rate this queue is going, we'll still be another week."

Zara settled in Donna's lap and she cuddled against her. It felt so nice and warm. The Doctor understood now. He was seeing things as Zara once saw them, but where were they?

"Zara Noble!," an impatient voice called.

"Come on, sweetheart," said Donna, carrying her, following the nurse back to an exam room. Donna took her clothes off and the nurse left, saying the doctor would be there soon.

"It's just an exam, sweetheart," said Donna. "You can finally get the rest of your inoculations. It shouldn't have taken this long, really, but now Mummy can let you play with other children without worrying about you catching something. That'll be nice, won't it?"

A man in a white coat entered. "Ms. Noble."

"We've been waiting hours," said Donna. "And it's freezing in here."

"Bloody refugees," said the doctor, "always think you ought to get more, don't you?"

"You had me undress her and then we had to wait," said Donna. "Are you trying to make her catch cold?"

The doctor looked at the chart. "Did you fill out this paperwork?"

"Yes."

"You didn't put down any illnesses," he said annoyed.

"I know," said Donna.

He looked more perturbed now. Zara didn't like the way he was talking to her mummy. "She's never been ill? Not a cold, no flu?"

"No," said Donna. "Never."

The doctor looked at Zara. "She's not cold. You're right, the heat is off, but she's not bothered." He took out a thermometer and put it in her ear. It beeped. "How long has her temperature been this low?"

"She's always had a lower body temperature," said Donna.

The doctor took out his stethoscope. He put it over the right side of her chest, then moved to the left. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Just one moment," he stammered.

"But we're supposed to get inoculations," said Donna.

"I have to check something," he said leaving.

"Stupid man," said Donna. She looked at Zara. "Bloody NHS, that's the best we can do? I should have fought harder for Glasgow. Well, let's get you dressed. I'm not having you sit around naked while they get their act together."

Donna turned Zara around to face her as she pulled her shirt over her head.

"Don't worry, Zara. We aren't staying like this forever. I don't know how yet, but we won't be refugees forever. My brilliant daughter's not living her life like this."

It was the Time Beetle universe, the Doctor realized. This was when they took her away. It was enough to shake Donna up and she was a grown woman who didn't scare easily, only for her children.

The doctor returned with a nurse and asked Donna to fill out some more paperwork. Donna left and then a bunch of UNIT members entered.

They took out their own stethoscopes and other scanners and devices. They didn't speak to Zara, just talked about her.

"Alien?"

"Definitely."

"The Doctor?," asked the woman.

The man snorted. "Who else? I heard the last was quite a ladies man, but this takes the cake, doesn't it? Getting a human pregnant."

"He died that Christmas, though. There's no record that the mother ever had an encounter. Just a temp, nothing interesting at all in the initial records."

"Well, we're not learning anything here, we need to take her back to headquarters."

"Zara no go," Zara said emphatically.

The UNIT people looked at her in surprise.

"No go," she repeated.

"Better take her now," said the man.

The woman picked her up. Zara started looking around frantically for Donna.

"Mummy!," she started shouting. "Mummy!"

She then let out the most blood curdling scream she could manage. Donna appeared as the woman was carrying her out, being held back by two other soldiers.

"You better get the hell out of my way! What do you think you're doing with my baby? Where are you taking her? Zara!"

"Mummy!" They were putting her in a jeep now and she was beating her hands against the windows. "Mummy!"

"Stop it," the Doctor heard Donna say. He realized her hand was around his wrist, pulling his hand away from Zara's temple. She shook her head. "Just stop it. It's too much for her."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said softly. "I wanted to know what she felt from the creature, but she showed me something else. The Time Beetle universe, when they took her from you." He looked at Zara. "Why did you show me that, Zara? What are you trying to tell me?"

"Zara no go," she said softly.

"I know," said the Doctor. "Zara no go. We will never let anyone take you from us, Zara, I promise. That was just a bad universe. It should have never happened."

"Bad," said Zara.

"Could you take it from her?," asked Donna.

The Doctor looked up in surprise.

"You know, the way you took all my memories. Could you do the same thing for her, just those memories?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I didn't take away your memories because I wanted to, Donna."

"I know, but she shouldn't have to live with that," said Donna. "She's just a baby."

"She doesn't really think about it, it's just at the forefront of her thoughts right now." The Doctor drew a breath. "Why is that, sweet girl?"

"No go."

"I'm going to have a look at Chloe," said Donna. She kissed Zara on the top of the head. "Stay with Daddy, okay?"

Donna got up and left. The Doctor rocked her in his arms as they sat on the floor.

"Oh, Zara, what are we going to do?"

"No go."

"That's right. We're never leaving Mummy. Mummy is absolutely the best."

"Banana."

The Doctor smiled. "There's my girl. We can have a banana."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna, Rory or anything. Thank you for the reads and reviews, sorry about the Zara whump. Believe me, I feel bad about it. Let me know what you think about this one and happy reading!

* * *

><p>Mickey Smith had helped himself into the Smith house using the Torchwood keys they kept as part of their Time Baby Services Division. It was sort of weird being in the Doctor and Donna's house without them in it, but it was a world better than being cooped up with the Nobles right now, at least while Sylvia was like this and it beat the long journey back to Cardiff.<p>

He got settled with the sofa and Chinese takeaway, ready to fully utilize the Doctor's "expanded" satellite service. That was when he heard something upstairs. He grabbed his weapon and hurried up.

He made his way to Zara's nursery and saw the gold form glowing against the pink everything in the room.

"What the hell are you doing here?," slipped out of his mouth.

The form turned. "Where is she?"

Mickey didn't answer. The form approached Mickey as he steadied the gun.

"Where's who?"

"You know who. Where is she? I need her."

Mickey shook his head. "Don't know."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Then don't."

The form shimmered and disappeared. Mickey reached for his mobile.

"Hello?," Jack asked groggily.

"Yeah, boss, it's shown up again," said Mickey.

* * *

><p>It had taken a few more hours to calm Zara down to an acceptable level and she had surprised her parents by settling in her own cot. The Doctor sent Donna to sleep while he walked the corridors with Chloe for a while. He had just dozed off to sleep next to Donna when he felt Zara's knee in his chest.<p>

He opened his eyes in surprise and looked at her. Her brown eyes were so intent.

"Zara?"

Before he could ask what she needed, she had placed her hand on his temple.

The Doctor realized she had done it back to him. Clever girl, learning to use her telepathy like that. What was she showing him?

He realized it was the same two UNIT people from the consultant's office, now in surgical scrubs, looking at Zara as she continued her screams.

"Can't you give her something?," asked the man.

"Like what? She has two hearts, do you know how to dose that properly?"

The man shook his head. "She has to stop some time."

A young woman in a UNIT uniform burst through the doors.

"The captain wants everyone front and center."

"We're kind of busy," said the man.

"The stars are going out!," announced the young woman.

"What do you mean they're going out?," he snapped.

Just then, the gold form appeared at the door, heading towards Zara.

"Oh my God!"

"What the hell is it?"

The form kept heading straight for Zara.

"Zara no go," she said, halting her screams.

"I need you," it said.

"Zara no go."

"This is how it has to be."

There was a brilliant flash of light, then darkness. But not bad darkness, the Doctor couldn't put his finger on it. It felt warm and wet and not altogether bad, though there was this sound, sort of like listening to a seashell.

Then he heard Donna screaming.

Then a voice. A woman, but it sounded far away. "What are you? What will you be? What will you be?"

The next voice he heard was his own. "Everything all right?"

"Oh, God!"

Then it went away and the Doctor was back to reality, with Zara sitting on his chest looking at him anxiously.

"Oh, you are a clever Time Baby!," he couldn't help but shout.

Zara smiled.

"Spaceman, if you wake up Chloe, I swear to God-"

"She's brilliant!"

Donna opened her eyes. She saw Zara sitting on the Doctor's chest. The Doctor managed to take her in his arms and sit up, quickly followed by him leaping out of bed and bouncing around the room.

"Donna, she remembers everything! Whole life! Time in the womb! By the way, you have a lovely womb, not that I would expect any different! Very comfortable!"

Donna sat up and took a breath. "Did you just say my womb was comfortable?"

"After the Time Beetle, she went back to being a fetus, but she didn't forget what had happened, she just sat back and grew... again. Then she just had to wait to be born and do you know what she just did? She showed me her memories!"

"She did what?"

"Same thing I did to her earlier, only she figured out how to reverse the process! That is very advanced for her age, even for a full Time Baby!"

"Why did she do that?"

The Doctor's enthusiasm started to subside at the implications of what he had just seen. "Because she's seen the form before. She saw it in the Time Beetle universe. I'm sorry, Donna, but it's been after her for a long time."

"Her whole life?," asked Donna. She shook her head. "I don't understand. How could it even find her in the Time Beetle universe? You said it collapsed."

"I'm not sure on that bit," admitted the Doctor. "The only people who could know about it would have had to have been there. It's not you, it's not Zara..."

There was a knock at the door. Before the Doctor or Donna could answer, it opened and Jack walked in.

"Damn, you're both dressed."

"What is it, Jack?," asked the Doctor.

"It was Mickey. The creature showed up at the house."

"What? Our house?," asked Donna.

"In Zara's room."

Donna looked at the Doctor in alarm.

"We're still only getting half the story," said the Doctor. "The form keeps showing up here, but what's at Mister Fitzwilliam's house?"

Jack smiled. "Guess we'll have to find out. It's been a while since I went to a ball."

* * *

><p>Rory looked at himself in the mirror of the TARDIS wardrobe. He was dressed in full Regency attire, God only knew why the Doctor had multiple copies of this around. Then again, who knew why the Doctor had any of this around? He turned to Donna as she rocked Chloe in her arms. Zara was playing on the floor with a collection of old hats.<p>

"I look like an idiot," he said motioning at his coat and breeches.

"Nonsense, you'll be the belle of the ball," said Donna.

"Ball!," said Zara.

The Doctor entered. "Found it! Come here, Rory!"

The Doctor pinned an impressive medal on Rory's chest. "There!"

"So, what?," asked Rory looking at the medal. "I'm in the Order of the Garters now?"

"No, it's a camera and a sensor." He looked at Donna. "We've got video amd it'll detect any timey wimeyness. We'll be able to see everything that's going on at the ball. Just like your own personal Pride and Prejudice."

"No Colin Firth, though," said Donna.

"What is it you see in Colin Firth?," asked the Doctor.

* * *

><p>They walked out to the console room to stand in the doorway of the TARDIS. Amy, Martha, Ianto and Jack were already waiting with the Austen sisters in the sitting room dressed in all their finery for the evening.<p>

Amy looked up at Rory in surprise. "Wow, Rory, you look... not bad."

"Thanks," said Rory, "you look not bad."

The Doctor and Donna exchanged exasperated glances.

"Are you sure you won't come?," Martha asked Donna.

Donna shook her head as she shifted Chloe from one side to the other. "No way. I'm not leaving these two on their own while there's some mad gold ghost on the loose."

"Go to ball?," asked Zara.

"Yes," said Martha.

"Meet prince?," she asked.

Jane smiled. "Hardly. Mister Fitzwillian will be there, the exact opposite of all princely behavior."

"Well," said Donna, "you might find that his behavior, no, that's not it, knowing him better... Sorry, having a baby's made my brain turn to mush. I'll let you know later."

"We'll tell you all about it later, Zara," Amy promised.

"We should hasten our departure," Cassandra announced.

"Lead the way, ladies," said Jack.

"Behave yourself, Jack," said the Doctor.

"Don't I always?"

"No, in fact."

The woman started out followed by Jack and Ianto. Rory was about to follow.

"Rory, a word," said Donna.

Rory came back.

"Okay," said Donna, "we've tried to help you subtly. We've taken you to every romantic planet there is. We have put you next to ginger Time Babies-"

"How do ginger Time Babies help?"

The Doctor shrugged and scooped up Zara. "Women love ginger Time Babies."

"My point is that you are now in the eighteenth century with Jane Austen and you are going to a ball with Amy. Don't blow it."

"Right," said Rory, "no pressure then."

"Oh, be sure to find the timey wimey thing at the house," said the Doctor.

"Absolutely no pressure," said Rory, walking out of the room.

Donna looked at the Doctor. "You bring the popcorn, I'll meet you in the sitting room."


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna, Jane Austen, Torchwood. Sorry it's been a while but I did a ten mile race over the weekend and something else that ought to become apparent later. So, thanks for the reads and reviews and I would love to get more. Happy reading!

* * *

><p>Rhys was sitting at Gwen's desk while she went off to the loo. He was happily enjoying a slice of pizza when all the cheese slid off onto the keyboard.<p>

"Oh, bugger..." he groaned.

"Hello?"

"Gwen?," he asked.

He looked at one of the monitors which was static-filled and suddenly flicked into life as he picked the cheese up off the keyboard.

It was Gwen.

"Gwen? I thought you were in the loo!"

The woman who looked like Gwen leaned in further to the monitor. "Rhys? Oh my God! Rhys Williams!"

Rhys shook his head. "I don't get it. What's the joke?"

Her jaw dropped. "Rhys bloody Williams!"

"Sorry," Rhys heard a very fast voice say, "is the thing actually working?"

"It's Rhys!," she spat.

The man came into view with dark, floppy hair and a bowtie. "Hi, do you happen to know what universe you're in?"

"What universe?"

"The Earth hasn't been taken over by Cybermen, has it? We've gotten a few of those. And tree people, of course when I say tree people, they're mostly leaves."

"Rhys, who are you talking to?," asked Gwen, heading to the monitor.

The other Gwen screamed.

"What?," asked the man in the bowtie.

"I'm bloody pregnant! Oh, my God, did Rhys get me pregnant?," she squeaked.

"What?," asked Gwen.

The signal cut out and the monitor returned to static.

Gwen looked at Rhys. "What the hell did you do?"

* * *

><p>The path to the Fitzwilliam estate was lit for a mile. Martha and Amy eagerly poked their heads outside of the carriage. Inside, the house was amazing and imposing. They waited in the receiving line to be introduced to their host who seemed as if he would rather be anywhere else. Martha watched as a young woman with dark hair and big brown eyes hurried towards Mister Fitzwilliam.<p>

"Excuse me, cousin, may I have a word?," she said.

Fitzwilliam motioned. "Miss Austen, Miss Jane, Miss Jones, this is my cousin Miss St. John-Smythe."

"Hello," she said. "Pleasure. Slight concern, I'm opening the dance?"

"Of course. You are the lady of the highest rank here and it is your home."

The girl shook her head. "No, see, I don't want to open the dance."

"This is hardly the sort of conversation to be having in public."

"You don't want me to dance, Trust me." She turned. "Miss Jones, why don't you open the dance?"

"Cousin," Fitzwilliam said sharply.

"Okay, Miss Austen, Miss Jane, pretty much anybody but me!"

"These sorts of hysterics are completely unbecoming."

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you."

She walked away and suddenly shouted in pain. Mister Fitzwilliam rolled his eyes.

"Oh, see, my foot is broken! Can't dance!"

Mister Fitzwilliam remained placid.

"Fine!," she shouted. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

><p>The Doctor entered the sitting room with a second bowl of popcorn. Zara was sprawled out on the floor with a collection of stuffed animals that included in its numbers Pooh Bear, Mister Scallofrax and the giant zebra that Amy had given her. Esther laid among them, taking one of her many naps. Donna was on the sofa nursing Chloe. The Doctor settled back in next to her and looked across at the giant screen that had appeared.<p>

"What have I missed?"

"Not much. They went inside and met Mister Fitzwilliam. His cousin doesn't want to start the dance or something."

"Why not?"

Donna shrugged. "How should I know? Maybe she's shy."

The Doctor nodded and looked over at Donna as Chloe nursed contently. Donna turned as she reached for more popcorn and caught him staring.

"What?," she asked. "Have I got spit up on my face?"

"You're stunning."

Donna snorted. "Get off it. I'm swollen, haven't put on any makeup, can't even remember if I brushed my hair, haven't slept more than an hour-"

"You're stunning," the Doctor said emphatically. "You are. You just gave me her and you gave me Zara, which is beyond stunning."

Donna relented and smiled. "Stop it."

* * *

><p>Rory looked at Amy as they traversed the great ballroom of Mister Fitzwilliam's house. They were walking arm in arm, trailing Jane.<p>

"So," said Amy, "looking for something timey wimey in 1796. What do you suppose that looks like?"

Jane stopped. "Miss Bingley." She curtsied.

"Sorry, what?," said Amy.

Miss Bingley looked at Jane with a smile that was so clearly a sneer. She turned her probing looks towards Amy and Rory. "Miss Jane. Who are your friends?"

"This is Mister Williams and Miss Pond. They are visiting with us."

Amy curtsied. "Hello."

"Hi," said Rory.

"And where are you visiting from?," asked Miss Bingley.

"Oh, just around," said Amy.

"Leadworth," said Rory.

"Really? I have never heard of it. I am certain it is a very charming village."

"Not really," said Rory.

"So many unusual visitors," said Miss Bingley. "Miss St. John-Smythe joins us from the Russian Court where her parents were last settled before being murdered by French revolutionaries."

Amy looked at Miss Bingley. "Sorry, wasn't the French Revolution over years ago?"

Miss Bingley stiffened. "I do not care for politics. I think it is most unbecoming. Don't you agree, Miss Jane?"

Jane smiled politely. "I do not see why a woman cannot have a variety of interests."

Miss Bingley gave a look that proclaimed sympathy for dear, ridiculous Jane. She smiled. "What do you think, Mister Fitzwilliam?"

They looked up in surprise to see that Mister Fitzwilliam had been observing the entire exchange. "I have always found it necessary to have some semblance of wit in a woman."

"Oh, Miss St. John-Smythe," said Miss Bingley.

The girl stopped and turned. Rory thought there was something very familiar about her.

"What dance will we be starting the evening with?," she asked.

"Right," she said running her right hand through what she could of her ornately arranged hair. "A dance."

"A quadrille? A waltz?," asked Miss Bingley.

"Something from the Russian Court, I should think," said the girl. She looked around. "Anyone ever been to Russia?"

They all shook their heads.

"Brilliant," she said. "Then I will be leading us in a dance from the Russian court which will of course be how they dance in Russia." She stopped and looked at Amy. "Wow, talk about resemblance."

"Sorry?," asked Amy.

The orchestra started.

"Oh, look, the dance," she said.

Amy looked over at Rory.

"Do they say 'wow' in seventeen ninety six?"

Rory couldn't listen, though. He was too busy trying to screw up his courage.

"Amy, do you want to dance?," he spat out.

Amy's eyes widened. "Uh-"

"If you don't want to, that's okay."

"No, no, I mean, yeah. Yeah, I'd like to dance."

* * *

><p>Donna reached over to the bowl of popcorn between her and the Doctor for another handful of popcorn.<p>

"Not exactly a smooth operator, our Rory," said the Doctor.

Donna snorted. "As if you would know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Donna shook her head. "Not even explaining myself."

* * *

><p>The ball began. Martha, Ianto and Jack watched with Jane as Miss St. John-Smythe was paired off at her cousin's doing.<p>

"A Mister Barnard," said Jane. "A great friend of Mister Fitzwilliam, though I hardly know what the pair are doing together. Mister Barnard is quite affable and quite gentlemanly."

"Maybe he'd be good for Cassandra," said Jack.

Martha looked at him with disapproving stares.

"What? I watched the parts without Colin Firth," said Jack.

"Poor Miss St. John-Smythe," said Jane, "being released unto the wolves. You are quiet, Doctor Jones."

Martha paused. "Does anyone else think there's something familiar about Miss St. John-Smythe?"

Ianto nodded in agreement. "There is something."

They watched as the dance began. It quickly became apparent that Miss St. John-Smythe was no skilled dancer.

"What dance is that?," asked Ianto.

Jane shook her head. "I am unfamiliar with it. Miss St. John-Smythe said it was from the Russian Court."

Jack shook his head. "No, that's the Time Warp."

Martha shook her head. "No, it's not."

"Look, they just jumped to the left," said Jack.

"And the step to the right," said Ianto.

* * *

><p>Back in the TARDIS, Zara suddenly leapt up off the floor.<p>

"Zara, where are you off to?," asked the Doctor.

"Book!," she said, hurrying out of the room.

Donna turned her head to stare at the screen closer.

"What sort of eighteenth century dance is that?," asked Donna.

The Doctor looked back at the screen and frowned. "None that I know of," he said.

"Mind you, it looks a bit like the Time Warp."

The Doctor shook his head. "No..."

"No, see, it's got the jump to the left and the step to the right, hands on your hips..."

"Who is that girl?," asked the Doctor suddenly.

"That's Mister Fitzwilliam's cousin," said Donna. "Miss St. John-Smythe."

The Doctor sat back. "That's not Mister Fitzwilliam's cousin," he pronounced.

"What?," asked Donna.

"She's a Time Lady."

Donna stared closer. "What? How can you tell?"

"I just can, Donna."

"But that's not possible," said Donna. "All the Time people in the universe are in this room. So, who is she?"

"I don't know how it's possible, Donna, I just know that it's happened." He stood up. "We're going to the ball."

Donna didn't like the look in his eyes as she followed him to the console room. It was the look that usually preceded something really bad happening. He started flying across the console, turning knobs and pressing buttons.

"Well, who do you think she is?"

"I don't know."

"Well, if she's a Time Girl or a Time Lady or whatever, is that good or bad?"

"I don't know!"

The TARDIS landed. The Doctor looked at Donna pensively. "Stay in here with the girls."

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find out who that girl is."

Donna watched as the Doctor went out the front of the TARDIS. She turned to see Zara toddling towards her, holding a book.

"Oh, Zara, we don't have time for a story," she said.

"Bad Wolf," said Zara.

Donna looked back at her. "What?"

"Bad Wolf!" She pointed at the book. It was one Sylvia had given Zara. It had a picture of a fuzzy wolf on the front and the words "Big Bad Wolf."

Donna looked carefully at Zara and knelt down as she balanced Chloe in her arms. Her mind raced.

It had to be someone who had been in the Time Beetle Universe. Someone that still existed.

Besides her and Zara, only one person fit that description.

"Zara," she said softly, "do you just want Mummy to read you a story or did you need the book to remind you of something? Something you remembered?"

Donna thought maybe she was asking too much. Maybe Zara didn't know more than the rest of them, she might have been a Time Baby, but she was just one year old.

"Bad Wolf," Zara said boring holes into Donna.

Donna nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay. I understand."


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna or any song used in this chapter. Thanks for the reads and reviews, glad you like it. Please enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you thinks. Also, the button with the lines appears to have disappeared at the moment so bear with me. Thanks and happy reading!

"What button did you push?," asked Gwen.

Rhys shook his head. "I don't know. I was there and all of a sudden you showed up on the screen!"

Gwen groaned. "It was me in another universe."

"Well, how am I bloody supposed to know?"

Gwen looked carefully at the keyboard. "Is that key greasy? Did you drop your bloody pizza?"

Rhys rolled his eyes. "I was hungry! I've been here hours! It's not my fault the cheese fell off and onto the keyboard!"

Gwen considered this and pushed the greasy key. All the screens in the Hub went black.

"Good one," snorted Rhys.

She glared at him.

"Sorry," he quickly recanted.

Suddenly, the monitors lit up. A message crawled across the screen.

BAD WOLF IS COMING. BAD WOLF IS COMING.

"What's that supposed to mean?," Rhys asked.

Gwen shook her head. "Haven't got a bloody clue."

The ballroom quieted as Mister Fitzwilliam rushed his young cousin away, caught up in hushed conversations about Miss St. John-Smythe.

Rory looked at Amy.

"Were we just doing the Time Warp?," he asked.

"Yeah," said Amy, "I think we might have been."

Jane sighed to Martha and Jack. "Poor Miss St. John-Smythe, to be so foreign to her own land and make such a mistake."

"Her reputation will not be helped by this," Cassandra said softly.

Jack considered this. "Ianto! Why don't you distract the people with some entertainment?"

"Oh, not again," said Ianto..

"Oh, please, Mister Jones," said Cassandra. "I would love to hear Freebird again."

"Or perhaps some other song of Wales?," asked Jane. "Your country has such interesting music."

Jack and Martha smiled at Ianto. He cast them both a scowl and headed for the piano.

"Where it began, I can't begin to knowing, But then I know it's growing strong, Was in the spring and spring became a summer who'd believe you'd come along..."

It was then that Ianto noticed the TARDIS materializing on the other end of the ballroom.

"Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you..."

"Sweet Caroline!," added Martha and Jack to Ianto's further chagrin as he continued. "Ba, ba, ba!," they added to represent the absent horn section.

Jane looked at Jack curiously.

"That's how they sing the song in Wales," he explained.

The Doctor came out of the TARDIS too distracted to notice the playing of a Neil Diamond classic at the ball as he headed towards Amy and Rory.

"You just parked the TARDIS in a ballroom," said Rory.

"Where did that girl go?," asked the Doctor.

"Aren't people going to notice a blue police box from the future in the middle of the room?," asked Rory.

"Who?," asked Amy.

"Miss St. John-Smythe! Where is she?"

Amy looked at Rory and shrugged. "Her cousin took her somewhere. He seemed pretty cross with her."

The Doctor headed through the ballroom and up the staircase. Amy gave Rory a worried look and soon followed. Rory followed her.

It was as Ianto was getting massive applause for his rendition of Sweet Caroline that Donna came out of the blue box, finding Martha and Jack.

"Donna!," exclaimed Martha. "I thought you weren't coming."

"Yeah, change of plans," she said. "Look, I need you to go back in the TARDIS with the girls. They're in Chloe's room." She handed Martha a baby monitor.

"Is sverything okay?," asked Jack.

Donna shook her head. "Where did the Doctor go?"

"He went upstairs, he was looking for Miss St. John-Smythe," said Martha as Jack's mobile rang and he stepped away.

"Just look after the girls," said Donna.

"Yeah, of course."

"Oh, and if you see Rose don't let her in the TARDIS."

Martha shook her head. "If I what?," she couldn't help but shout.

Donna didn't answer, she just hurried upstairs in pursuit of the Doctor. Martha rushed back to the TARDIS.

Lydia was starting to get bored. Time travel was turning out not to be as fun as her father had alluded to, he never mentioned being lectured about proper Regency comportment by someone like Mister Fitzwilliam. She had pretended to be his cousin for over a week now and still didn't know his first name.

Then again he had probably never tried to introduce the Time Warp as a dance from the Russian Court. It still seemed like something he might do.

"Such behavior I wouldn't expect from some house maid, let alone a young lady of your standing! Do you have any idea what you have done to your reputation, let alone your potential at forming an alliance of any consequence!"

"Yeah," said Lydia, "the pelvic thrust will really drive you insane..."

"What did you say?"

Lydia sighed and sat back. "You wanted a dance, I gave you a dance from the Russian court after I asked you not to have me lead the dance."

"Are you saying this is my fault?"

Lydia shrugged.

Mister Fitzwilliam scoffed. "Such impudence!"

"I didn't want a ball, I didn't want to dance, I don't care about an alliance, whatever that is. Why is it an alliance anyway? Are we fighting someone?"

"I shall have to find some school for you, to smooth over the cracks of your education as a young lady."

Lydia's eyes widened. "Right, I suppose you should get on that right away."

"I shall send inquiries in the morning."

Lydia pulled the psychic paper from its secure spot inside the ribbon on the waist of her dress. "See, you just got this letter from the Duke of Something or other and you have to go to John O'Groates first thing."

"What? Let me see that!"

Lydia handed him the psychic paper.

"Oh, you are good," said a ghostly voice.

Lydia turned as the Doctor walked in, followed by Amy and Rory. She froze.

"You're very good with the psychic paper. Is that how you got into the house? Won his trust? Made him believe you were a relative?"

Lydia didn't say anything. She couldn't believe the sight in front of her. She was shaking.

"Well?," asked the Doctor. "No clever plan?"

Donna ran up the stairs and past an open door.

"Mummy!"

She turned looking down the hallway. There was no one there. Martha would know better than to let her out anyway.

"Mummy!"

Donna realized that the call was coming from inside the open door. She carefully approached it and walked inside.

She found a nursery, ornately maintained with what must have been 1796's best baby things. In the cot, stood someone who could best be described as Zara's doppelganger. She had the Doctor's brown eyes, her ginger hair and pale skin and the Doctor's gleeful grin on her face as she shouted, "Mummy!"

"Uh..."

"Mummy! Mummy!"

She was jumping in the cot now, Donna thought it looked like a bit of a strain on the craftsmanship. She walked over as the little girl held her arms out. Donna lifted her up and took her into her arms.

"Uh, hi," said Donna.

The girl had her arms around Donna's neck now.

"Let's just go find the Doctor then," she said.

"Blanket," she said.

"Oh," said Donna. She reached into the cot for a cream colored afghan. She worked to wrap it around the toddler and not lose her grip. "Were you cold? You are a bit warmer than my girls."

The girl frowned. "Ella?"

Donna froze. The name evoked all those memories of the Library she had just about been able to push aside with the aid of a real husband and children. "Sorry?"

"Ella? Josh?"

"Why are you saying Josh and Ella?," she asked shaking her head.

"Josh! Ella!"

"Okay," said Donna, carefully drawing a breath. "Why don't we just go find the Doctor? Doctor!"

"Well," said the Doctor, "aren't you going to say anything?"

Lydia stared at him. Mister Fitzwilliam had voiced his objections, only to be disputed by the Doctor and still seemed to believe the psychic paper, but he was quietly considering the events.

He frowned. "You're not the Master, are you?"

"Why would I be the Master?," she asked.

"Then who are you!"

"I had a letter from the Countess of Carlisle!," Mister Fitzwilliam protested.

"No," said Rory, tiring, "you didn't."

"Yeah, what part of psychic paper didn't you get?, asked Amy.

Donna entered with the baby. "Hi, question. Who's this?"

"Lydia!," shouted the baby. She looked at the Doctor. "Daddy!"

Amy looked at the baby. "Why does she look like Zara?"

"Yeah, I know," said Donna.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the baby.

"Madame, what are you doing with my cousin?," asked Mister Fitzwilliam.

"I'm keeping her, obviously," said Donna.

"You walked into a room, saw a baby that looked like yours and now you're keeping her?," asked Rory.

"That's how my life goes, Rory," Donna answered.

"She's a quarter Time Lord," said the Doctor, "one heart, your DNA and the Duplicate's DNA."

"The Duplicate?," asked Rory.

"Right, yeah, I had this duplicate... Long story," said the Doctor. "Why is it just yours and his?"

"What do you mean?," asked Donna.

"Well, he went with Rose."

"Who's Rose?," asked Lydia.

"More importantly, who are you?," asked the Doctor. "Where did you come from? And what the hell are you doing here?"

"Doctor," said Donna softly. She had just realized what was so familiar about Miss St. John-Smythe.

The eyes.

"I'll handle this, Donna."

Lydia's lip started quivering. The Doctor watched in confusion as water started coming out of her eyes. He looked over at Donna, who scowled at him.

"Look what you've done," Donna said handing the baby over to him. She sat down next to Lydia and put her arms around her. "It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay."

"It's just she's a Time Lady and she's crying," said the Doctor.

"I know that!," Lydia snapped. She then resumed crying as Donna held her, much to the Doctor's complete confusion.

"Stop being such a dumbo," said Donna. She looked back at Lydia. "Okay, sweetheart, just take a minute. We're just wondering what's going on, that's all."

"We got kidnapped by the Silence, from the other universe," Lydia started, sobbing.

"The Silence?," asked the Doctor, his attention piqued. "Who are they?"

This only made Lydia sob harder.

"It's okay," said Donna. "Your name's Lydia, right? That's what the baby called you."

She nodded. "Yes."

"What's she called?"

"Georgiana."

"Oh, my God," said Amy pointing between them, "you both have Pride and Prejudice names!"

"Pride and Prejudice?," asked Mister Fitzwilliam.

"Right, don't pay attention to that," said the Doctor. He looked back at Lydia. He motioned at Georgiana. "And she belongs to?"

"John," said Lydia. "And Donna."

Donna looked over at the Doctor knowingly. She turned back to Lydia. "What about you, sweetheart? Your mum and dad?"

Lydia was silent.

"I'm betting your dad is his alternate," said Donna, motioning at the Doctor, as she ran her fingers through Lydia's hair. "Then I would guess that your mum is probably the Oracle."

Lydia nodded. The Doctor froze.

Donna looked at Mister Fitzwilliam and pointed at Lydia. "Yeah, I'm taking her too."

"Donna, they aren't ours," said the Doctor.

"Oh, let's just leave them then," said Donna.

"Why are you out of the TARDIS anyway?"

Donna remembered. "I had to tell you something."

"What?"

Jack ran in. "There's a message at the Hub. Gwen thinks it might be from another universe."

"Hold on," said Amy, "alternate universes? That's a thing?"

"Yeah, it's a thing," said the Doctor. He looked at Jack. "What's the message?"

"Bad Wolf is coming," he said. He pointed at the baby the Doctor held. "Sorry, is she Zara's clone or what?"

As the Doctor's face turned pale, they heard screams coming from the ballroom.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor or Donna. Thanks for the reads and the reviews. Minor bit of housekeeping, if you're confused at this point and haven't been reading my other story, Running Parallel, some of the explanation lies in there, but I think a lot of you have been. Let me know what you think of this one and happy reading! Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Martha hurried back to the TARDIS and found that every screen in the console room had a message: "Bad Wolf is coming." She had no idea what it was about but it didn't sound good. She hurried back into the bowels of the ship and was relieved to find Zara and Chloe in the new nursery, safe and sound.<p>

"Martha!," said Zara. "Meet prince?"

"Hey, sweetheart," said Martha, scooping her up off the floor. She peered over the railing of the cot to see Chloe sleeping contentedly.

"Baby," said Zara with a grimace.

"What?," asked Martha. "Don't you like being a big sister?"

"Mummy always wants baby."

"No," said Martha. "She wants you as well, but she has to look after the baby very carefully. Chloe can't do anything for herself, can she? Not like you."

"Mummy said that."

Martha smiled. "You know, I have a big sister."

Zara looked at Martha with interest.

"I do. She's called Tish. I remember growing up, I wanted to do everything that she did, to be just like her."

Zara seemed to be pleased by that.

"I bet Chloe will be just the same." She smiled. "And your mum and dad love you so much. They could never ever forget you even if you had ten little sisters."

"Ten!"

Martha smiled. "I'm sure you won't have ten."

Martha was still smiling at Zara's horrified reaction when she had one of her own.

Because she heard a knock at the door, amplified through the TARDIS sound system. She looked at Zara, trying not to let on her concern and then checked back on Chloe, content as ever, before she walked to the console room.

Esther was at the edge of the walkway to the door, growling. There was another knock.

"Hello?," she heard an impossible voice say.

"No bloody way," she whispered. She then looked quickly at Zara. "You should never say that word."

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

Martha moved to the TARDIS monitor. It was showing the ballroom, all cleared out, musicians instruments left on the floor in a hurry and at the door was Rose Tyler.

"How can she even be here?," she whispered. "We left her on that parallel world."

Zara shrugged. Martha gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"You're not to worry, Zara. Everything's going to be fine."

* * *

><p><em><strong>A Few Minutes Earlier<strong>_

The Doctor ran towards the landing as the screams from the ballroom intensified. Jack and Mister Fitzwilliam were closely behind him.

The gold form was looming in the ballroom. Ianto was helping Jane and Cassandra rush up the stairs as the other guests fled, the servants dropped trays and the musicians left instruments on the floor in a frantic exeunt.

"Miss Jane, are you alright? Were you harmed?," Mister Fitzwilliam asked frantically.

"I am quite well, sir," Jane said uneasily.

"Oh," said Mister Fitzwilliam. He stiffened and looked at Cassandra. "And you, Miss Austen? I trust you were unharmed."

"Yes," said Cassandra. "I am well."

He nodded. "I have not inquired after your mother. How is she?"

"Oh, God, we do not have time for this!," said Amy. "Do you think we could save the repressed love thing for later?"

"I do not know what you mean," said Mister Fitzwilliam.

Amy looked at Rory. "God, they're in such denial."

"Yeah, denial," said Rory.

"You're killing me, Rory," said Donna.

The Doctor looked at Ianto. "What happened? Tell me, exactly what happened!"

"Well, I was playing Freebird again and that thing just showed up. It looks as if it wants to get closer to the TARDIS."

"It won't get in there," said the Doctor.

"What do you think it is?," asked Jack. "Why Bad Wolf?"

"Must be some sort of message," said the Doctor. "I don't know why Rose would have chosen those words."

Donna cleared her throat. "Uh, Doctor-"

"Just a minute, Donna."

She stiffened, noticing the look of apprehension on Georgiana's face as she got angry. She wondered if her alternate had this much of a hard time with the duplicate. "Doctor!"

"I just have to sort this out!'

"It is Rose!"

The Doctor stopped and looked at Donna. "What? No."

"In the TARDIS, Zara told me Bad Wolf. How could she have possibly known that?"

"No, but-"

"You said yourself it had to be someone who knew the Time Beetle universe, someone who still existed and there are only three people who fit that description."

The Doctor shook his head. "Donna, Rose wouldn't-"

Donna cleared her throat. "You told me about your ninth self, the way he died, when Rose opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the Time Vortex and became the Bad Wolf."

"She did what?," asked Lydia.

"Absorbing the Time Vortex?," Amy asked. "Is that bad?"

"It's sort of like if you looked at the sun too long," said Lydia.

The Doctor looked at Lydia. "How did you get here? Was that thing a part of it?"

Donna looked at Lydia. "Was there an irritating blonde involved?"

"There was Madame Kovarian and some girl who talked like there was something in her mouth."

Donna looked at the Doctor.

"Oh, my God," said Jack, turning towards the Doctor. "The form, it said your name."

The form grew larger.

"Uh, maybe we should get further away from that thing," said Ianto.

"Yeah, good plan," said Rory, helping usher everyone back into the library.

"Sorry, who's Rose?," asked Lydia.

"The Doctor's ex-girlfriend," said Ianto.

"Who apparently stared at the sun too long according to you," said Rory.

Donna walked up to the Doctor, away from the fray of the others talking about the form and pondering t-shirt printing times. She could see that he was having too much trouble digesting this turn of events. For all the worldliness he claimed- or maybe universal-ness?- he could be so naive at times. He wanted to believe the best in everyone, he wanted to give everyone a chance even when they so clearly didn't deserve it. Even the Sontarans, even Davros! "Sweetheart, I know she was your friend. I know she helped you when you really needed it. I know you loved her once, but it's a warning. I know it is."

"That's not Rose, it can't be," the Doctor said in a hushed tone.

"It said Bad Wolf is coming, not just 'Bad Wolf', right?" She took a breath. "At Shan Shen, Rose just said 'Bad Wolf,' didn't she?"

She watched as the cogs turned slowly in that supposedly great big Time Lord brain of his. She took his hand in the one that wasn't holding Georgiana. "I know you don't want to believe it, but I need you to believe me. That thing is after our girls, if your trust in her, hurts them, I won't ever be able to forgive it."

Donna could see that scenario terrified the Doctor.

"Donna, I would never choose Rose over-"

"I know, but you're not hearing me."

The Doctor took a breath, collected himself and walked back towards Lydia now full of purpose. "Lydia, how did you travel across the Void?"

"The TARDIS."

"And you got off somehow? How did you do that?"

"I engaged the emergency protocols so that anyone left would be seen as unauthorized and then I got off here with Georgiana and then she went back into the vortex."

"That's properly clever," said the Doctor.

Lydia looked taken aback. "It is?"

"Course it is." He paused. "You have your own psychic paper?"

"It was in the bag the TARDIS gave me," she said.

"Bag the TARDIS gave you? What else was in there?"

"It's in my room," said Lydia.

"Come on, then," said the Doctor, motioning for her to come with him. She stepped forward hesitantly. The Doctor looked at Jack. "Stay with Donna and Georgiana."

"Be careful," said Donna, rocking Georgiana.

The Doctor just nodded and took Lydia by the hand.

* * *

><p>Lydia watched as the Doctor went through the collection of what the TARDIS had deemed necessary for an outing to 1796.<p>

"Sonic screwdriver. Biodamper." He continued rustling in the bag. "Don't you have an Academy in your universe? Why aren't you at it?"

Lydia paused. "I'm not permitted."

"Not permitted? Why not?"

"Because I was taken by the Silence, they kept me for six years before my father found me. The High Council thinks I'm too tainted."

The Doctor looked at her. "Your dad accepted that?"

"I don't know, I guess."

The Doctor rifled in the bag and pulled out a cylindrical purple device with what looked to be bits of yarn on the end. "Oh, brilliant, a catalyzer!"

"A catalyzer?"

"Right. Fifteen. Haven't gotten that far in school. Should take all the energy off that being, whatever it is and put it in here."

Lydia looked at it. "But it's temporal energy, will that be enough?"

"Maybe," said the Doctor, taking out his own sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the device. "That ought to increase the capacity. Come on."

* * *

><p>The Doctor headed downstairs as the form loomed. Lydia was soon behind him. He activated the device.<p>

The gold form began swirling, whipping throughout the room as it got sucked into the cylinder through the bits of yarn in a sort of turbine. It spun away, like it was being peeled open, finally revealing...

"Doctor!," Rose shouted energetically. She looked back at Lydia. "What's she doing here?"

The Doctor moved back to stand protectively in front of Lydia. "Rose, what are you doing here?"

She smiled. "I came to find you." She pointed at Lydia. "She tried to stop me. Lucky I knew my way around that."

"You kidnapped Georgiana and me! You stole my dad's TARDIS!"

"Well, I had to, to get back here!" Rose looked at the Doctor plaintively.

the Doctor was in disbelief at Rose's callousness. "You kidnapped them Rose. You took a baby from her mother, all the way to another plane of reality, I'm not sure I can fix that. Don't you understand?"

Rose's smile faded. "Where is she then?"

"Where's who?," asked the Doctor.

"Donna. She's done this to you."

"She's not here," said the Doctor. "I had to leave her because of the metacrisis."

"Really?," said Rose. "Because I saw you with her and the baby. You were walking home from Tesco."

"When did you see that?," asked the Doctor incredulous.

"Never mind when I saw it, something's happened! Donna has done something to you! You're not yourself."

"Rose, she hasn't done anything to me."

"Yes, she has and I am going to fix it."

"Fix what?," exclaimed the Doctor.

Rose put her hand forward and golden energy spiked from her fingers. The Doctor was frozen, encased in another rectangle of energy.

Rose looked at Lydia. "He'll be safe there. Now, you, where's that one you were with?"

Lydia shook her head. "Not here. She went with a nurse in another village."

"You're lying. Why would you send her off?"

Lydia screwed up the courage to lie some more. "Try opening a history book some time, the wealthy in this era don't deal with their children. She's not here!"

"Fine," said Rose. She motioned at the TARDIS. "Donna and her brats in there then?"

"Rose."

Rose looked up to see Jack. "Jack! What are you doing here?"

"You need to stop this, Rose." He put himself in front of Lydia. "You need to let the Doctor go so we can help you and try to fix this."

"Not you too, Jack." She was getting angry now. "Don't you see what she's done to him?"

"Yes, Rose, she's made him happy."

"He's not happy! How could he possibly be happy?"

"Rose, you don't know what it was like for him after you left. You don't know what he went through."

"I can help him!"

"You're not helping!," Jack finally burst out.

With that, Rose struck Jack down with another energy bolt. She looked at Lydia.

"Don't get in my way," she warned.

She walked to the TARDIS and knocked on the door.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who. Still! Why are they being so unreasonable about selling it for nothing? Thanks for the reads and reviews. Anyway, I hadn't intended to finish this next part quite so fast, but tkelparis asked nicely and it ended up being a beast anyway. So, here it is, enjoy and let me know what you think. Happy reading!

* * *

><p>Martha watched the TARDIS replay the events as Rose knocked on the door. She pulled Zara closer to her. Donna was definitely right about not letting her in. What did she want the girls for? How did she become an energy thing? What did the message mean? She found her mobile back in her room and tried to call everyone, including the Doctor and Donna. Not knowing what else to do, she rang up Torchwood.<p>

"Martha, where are you?," asked Gwen, putting her on speaker. "Are you still in 1796?"

"How did Jane Austen get in a space cave?," asked Rhys, eliciting a thump on the arm from Gwen.

"Yeah, still here," said Martha, sitting in the rocking chair with Zara next to Chloe's cot.

"Can I speak to Jack again? This Bad Wolf is coming thing is everywhere, every screen on Earth, UNIT finally stopped it. Do you know what it is? Is it some kind of warning?"

Martha looked at Zara. "Yeah, pretty sure it's a warning. Rose is here."

"What do you mean Rose is here?," asked Mickey.

Martha shook her head. "Mickey, what are you doing on the line?"

"You must have put us through on a conference call. What do you mean Rose?"

"I mean Rose is here knocking on the door of the TARDIS and Donna said not to let her in."

"Why did Donna say not to let her in?," asked Gwen.

"Like you would want one of Rhys' ex-girlfriends walking in your front door," said Mickey.

"Rhys doesn't have exes," said Gwen.

"I do so," said Rhys.

"Okay, well, Rose is here and she's gone ballistic," said Martha, wanting to convey just how strange things had gotten. "She killed Jack."

"How did she do that?," asked Mickey.

"I don't know, I think she's the gold ghost, she has all this energy now, like some sort of superpower."

Rhys laughed. "Oh, good, the Doctor's ex is one of the X Men. She's an X Woman."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Do you mind? This is serious."

"Serious? This whole thing is ridiculous. Everything you lot do is ridiculous! Invasion of the pepper pots, ginger Time Babies, videos of kittens falling over in the sky, Jane Austen in a space cave! It just gets worse!"

The three Torchwood members were silent. It was all fairly ridiculous.

"What do we do?," asked Mickey.

"Just wait, I suppose," said Martha.

* * *

><p>Upstairs, Donna had learned that the eighteenth century gentry were just as rubbish with the emotion of anxiety as all of the other ones. They were all in the library, sitting politely as they waited for disaster.<p>

"Have you any plans for the season?," Mister Fitzwilliam asked Jane.

"My mother has intentions of us visiting Brighton," she responded.

"Brighton," said Mister Fitzwilliam. "Charming."

"I suppose you will spend your time in town," said Jane, struggling not to roll her eyes.

"Yes. I have many engagements."

Cassandra cleared her throat. "Mrs. Smith-Noble, I do not understand. You say this child is not yours, but she called you."

Donna looked at Georgiana. "Yeah, her mother is sort of me in a parallel universe."

Jane, Cassandra and Mister Fitzwilliam simply stared at Donna as if she had announced she was Julius Caesar. Donna looked at Ianto.

"I don't think they got that," she said.

"No," Ianto agreed.

"Why did I let her go on her own?," said Rory.

"Yeah, I was sort of wondering that," said Donna.

"Me, too," said Ianto.

Amy burst back in the library, having left to watch events from the landing once Jack left. Rory heaved a sigh of relief.

"Okay, not good. Jack is lying on the ground, possibly dead, the Doctor is in some sort of weird uh, thing, where he's frozen, Lydia's alone and Rose is knocking on the door of the TARDIS. By the way, she's not blonde."

"Of what significance is her hair color?," asked Mister Fitzwilliam.

Donna didn't answer, she handed Georgiana to Rory. "I'm going down there."

"No," said Ianto.

"No," agreed Rory as he moved to help Ianto block the door and handed the baby back to her, that usually seemed to calm her down.

Donna looked at them both squarely, clearly identifying the baby in the arms trick. The Doctor had figured that one out pretty early on. "My husband's down there having God knows what done to him by his ex-girlfriend, who wants to take my children and not to mention poor Lydia!"

"Fine! I'll go!," said Rory.

Ianto looked at Rory. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, create a distraction."

"Oh. Fantastic." Ianto cast a skeptical glance at the Austens and Mister Fitzwilliam.

"Distraction?," asked Amy. "Rory, that is one psychotic bint down there and she could kill you." She looked at the residents of the eighteenth century, shocked by her language. "Well, sorry, she is."

"Well, frankly, it seems like the person she wants to kill is Donna, so," Rory threw his hands up, "I should be fine."

"And what?," Amy asked incredulously. "You're just going to talk to her?"

"The Doctor does it."

"Yeah! Look how well it's working for him!"

"Well, somebody's got to try something! It's better than you going!," Rory said as if it was ending the argument. He then left.

"Oh, stupid face," Amy grunted, following him.

* * *

><p>Rory arrived at the ballroom and saw Lydia cowering by the staircase. He went to Jack's side and checked his pulse. The captain was dead. He shook his head at Lydia and walked towards Rose. She knocked frantically on the door of the TARDIS, willing it to open.<p>

"Uh, hi," said Rory.

Rose turned. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Rory, you know, just Rory."

Rose looked him up and down and then noticed as Amy descended the stairs.

"Yeah, and I'm Amy."

Rose sighed. "Great. Another ginge."

"Hey, watch it bottle brunette. Get that packet from a pound shop, did you?"

Lydia took this distraction to hurry back up the stairs and into her room.

"I thought you were going to stay upstairs," Rory whispered.

"I thought you were going to wow her with your powers of persuasion!," Amy hissed back.

"You made fun of her hair color!"

Rose glowered, so blinded by fury that she didn't notice Lydia's exit. "Do you two want something or are you just trying to get me mad?"

Amy and Rory looked at each other. They looked back at Rose.

"We were more or less wondering if you would consider, you know, letting the Doctor go and leaving Donna and the girls alone."

"This your big plan?," hissed Amy.

"More or less." He looked back at Rose. "I forgot to add 'please.' Sorry. Please."

"I don't want to have to hurt you, but I will."

Amy scrunched her face. "You don't want to have to hurt us? I don't know what you did to Jack, you kidnapped, you trapped the Doctor, since when do you not want to hurt people?"

"Blame Donna."

"You know who you remind me of? Susie Pendleton. Mad Susie Pendleton. She just wouldn't leave Rory bloody alone and she thought he was in love with her, but she was just being nice to her and she just couldn't take a hint when Rory would rather hang out with-" Amy stopped. She turned to Rory. "Oh, my God."

Rory stood, cheeks burning.

"Rose isn't Susie, Susie is Rose and I'm... I'm Donna."

Rory was mortified. This was not the way he had imagined this. He had imagined something much more smooth, romantic and possibly without a time travelling alien's jealous ex-girlfriend who was also some sort of gold ghost travelling through time. "Amy..."

Rose looked around the room with a sudden realization. "Where's the other one?"

"Right here."

Amy and Rory looked behind them to see Lydia, wielding a sonic screwdriver. She pointed the device at the cylinder, still buzzing with temporal energy.

"I'll use it."

"So, you've got a sonic screwdriver? So what? I've got the power of the Time Vortex, don't I?"

"Let him go," said Lydia.

"You all are such rubbish," said Rose. She raised her hand again and more golden spikes started shooting forward. Amy and Rory moved back as Lydia moved towards the cylinder.

"Last warning," said Lydia, completely terrified and hoping that Rose would save her the choice.

She wasn't about to back down, though. "What are you going to do? You're just some stupid teenager."

"Maybe, but I can do this." She pointed the sonic screwdriver at the cylinder and the energy started whirling out.

"Uh, what did you do?," asked Amy.

"I reversed the polarity."

"Uh, what do we do now?"

Just then, Jack sat up taking a huge breath. Lydia screamed.

"Bloody hell!," shouted Amy.

"You were dead," said Rory. "You were completely dead!"

"You humans aren't supposed to do that!," shouted Lydia. She paused. "You're not, right?"

"Yeah, tell me about it." Jack groaned as he got up off the ground. He looked at the whirlwind of energy and the Doctor still in his casing. He looked at the cylinder. "This can't hold."

"I know that," said Lydia.

"Well, can't you do something to mend it?," asked Amy.

Lydia looked around at them. "I'm fifteen! I was stretching with 'reverse the polarity'! What do you people want from me?"

"Try something!," said Rory.

"We've got to break that energy casing before the Doctor gets sucked back with her," Jack warned.

"I was guessing that!," Lydia said defensively. She frantically worked at the sonic, she had never been able to learn all the settings, it seemed as if her father was always making up new ones, but for some reason not one that worked on wood. "Okay, here!"

Suddenly, techno music came out of the TARDIS.

"Never mind! Wrong one!," said Lydia, fumbling for another setting. She pointed the sonic screwdriver at the casing again and the energy burst out, the Doctor falling forward.

"What happened?," he asked.

"Your ex is psychotic! That's what happened!," shouted Amy.

The Doctor nodded. "Fair enough." He looked at Lydia. "What did you do?"

"I reversed the polarity on the casing of the catalyzer," answered Lydia.

"You'll send her back into the Time Vortex!"

"I sort of figured it was better than having her here, shooting vortex energy at people!"

The whirlwind stopped. The energy was gone. An eerie silence spread and they looked in each others' eyes.

They heard screams from upstairs.

"Donna!," shouted the Doctor, starting upstairs at a mad pace.

* * *

><p>The form loomed in the library, it was the only thing the occupants could see. Donna had Georgiana pressed up against her, trying to cover her with the blanket as the baby wailed and Donna could feel her tears soaking through her top. The Austen sisters trembled in each others' embrace next to her, Ianto had a gun pointed at the form, Mister Fitzwilliam had taken one of the swords off a decorative holder and pointed it at the creature.<p>

Donna was fairly certain that neither approach was going to work.

The doors burst open as the Doctor entered. He ran to stand protectively in front of Donna and Georgiana.

"To get to them, you have to go through me, Rose! Do you understand? Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you!"

The form lurched forward towards him.

"No!," screamed Lydia, running in front of him.

Mister Fitzwilliam ran in front of Lydia, pushing her out of the way as he was struck by another golden spike. He screamed, falling to the ground as the form dissipated.

"Where'd it go?," asked Amy.

The Doctor shook his head. "She expended too much energy, had to go back in the Time Vortex."

"Which means she'll just continue jumping out anywhere she pleases in time and space?," asked Ianto.

"Yeah," said the Doctor.

"Brilliant," muttered Ianto.

Rory ran towards Mister Fitzwilliam, quickly followed by the Doctor. Donna hurried towards Lydia, who was sitting on the ground, sobbing.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?," asked Donna.

"It's my fault. I'm sorry."

Donna shook her head. "No-"

Rory looked at the Doctor. "His pulse is thready. What do we do?"

The Doctor shook his head. "It's Time Vortex energy. He's burning. There's nothing we can do."

"But Jack was alright," he protested.

"Oh, right, forgot to mention it, Jack's immortal. Sorry."

"What do you mean 'Jack's immortal?'," spat Rory.

The Doctor ignored the question. He looked down at Mister Fitzwilliam. "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do."

"Miss Jane..." he whispered.

The Doctor looked up at Jane who seemed to be in complete shock at being mentioned. She approached carefully and knelt next to Mister Fitzwilliam.

"Yes?"

"Miss Jane..."

She frowned. "What could you possibly have to say to me?"

"I have not mentioned how much I admire you."

"What?," said Jane. "Admire? What do you mean?"

Mister Fitzwilliam looked desperate to answer, but he was fighting too much. The pain he felt from the vortex energy and the time travelers realized, his own reserve, difficult for him to cast off even in his final moments. His eyes just closed, as if he were succumbing to sleep. Jane looked up at the Doctor in a mix of shock and horror.

The Doctor looked at her, seeing all the pieces of the timeline fall into place. "I'm so sorry, Jane."

"He..." Jane shook her head. "But he hates me. I was just the vicar's daughter to him." The Doctor realized that Jane was seeing the same thing as he just had; a door closing. A possibility ended.

The Doctor didn't know whether he was helping or hurting with his next words. "Sometimes men can be thick with their true feelings, especially when they're bound by duty or tradition or perhaps he just thought it would hurt you."

Jane shook her head at the opportunity so cruelly squandered as the Doctor watched. Cassandra moved to comfort her younger sister as best she could. The Doctor then caught sight of Lydia, who he realized must have, liked him, seen timelines clicking into place, the turn of the universe unyielding to love, unexpressed or otherwise.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking up at Donna. "I really am."

Donna handed Georgiana to Amy and sat down beside her, taking the elder girl in her embrace. "That's okay, sweetheart. Nobody blames you. You have done nothing wrong."

The Doctor watched Lydia, knowing she wouldn't accept that. She was like him, so eager to blame herself.

Amy looked up, having had the realization that the two Time Lords had.

"Oh, my God, that bitch killed Mister Darcy!," she exclaimed.

The Doctor gave her a disapproving look as everyone else stared at her.

Amy's cheeks turned red. "Sorry, never mind, I was thinking of something else. Forget what I said."


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who. I don't know why not. Sorry about the lack of updating, I managed to injure my back in such a way that I have no problem standing, walking or running even, but serious trouble sitting. So, sitting with the computer has been a problem, but here we are. Sorry for boring the people who read that excuse on A Walk In The Dust. Thanks for the reads and the reviews. Happy reading!

* * *

><p>It was a solemn mood as they waited for the constable to arrive. The Doctor explained how brigands had crashed the ball and killed Mister Fitzwilliam and frightened off all the guests. Cassandra corroborated his story as Jane was still in shock from the unexpected turn the evening's events had taken. The Doctor once again relied on the psychic paper to explain that he was in fact Mister Fitzwilliam's cousin on his mother's side and that he and Donna were the parents of Lydia and Georgiana, which was sort of true. He explained how they had been separated from the girls and the Marquise of Seingalt had assumed the worst and sent them on to England. The constable found this bit of the story even harder to believe, but the Doctor was aided by Lydia;s confirmation and Georgiana's eager cries of Mummy and Daddy.<p>

Jack and Ianto escorted the Austen sisters home in their carriage. The Doctor, Donna, Amy and Rory headed back to the TARDIS with its' two newest occupants.

Martha and Zara were waiting for them in the console room.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," said Martha. "I was starting to fear the worst."

The Doctor shook his head. "No way could Rose have gotten in here."

"That was Rose, then?," asked Martha. "She became that creature?"

"Oh, yeah, that's her," said Amy. "Complete psychotic. Can't believe you ever liked her."

"Something's happened to her," said the Doctof. "The question is, what?"

"Martha," said Donna, "this is Lydia. She's the daughter of the alternate Doctor in Pete's World."

Martha's eyes widened in amazement. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, seriously," said Lydia.

"Well, I'm Martha Jones."

"Zara!," cried Zara.

"Right," said Dona. "This is where things get to be a bit strange." Donna took the blanket off Georgiana's head. The little girl had been sleeping in Donna's arms since the constable left.

"Oh, my God," said Martha.

Lydia's mouth dropped as well. "She looks just like Georgiana."

"We noticed," said Rory.

"Another of the Doctor's children?," asked Martha. "I mean, the alternate Doctor."

"No, apparently she's the daughter of my duplicate and Donna's alternate."

"So, he didn't end up with Rose?," asked Martha. "Even after that whole production on the beach?"

"No," said the Doctor.

"What production on what beach?," asked Amy, her interest piqued.

"Oh, there was this whole thing where we said goodbye to the Duplicate and he told Rose he loved her and she snogged him and we left. If my brain wasn't about to burn, I would have said something."

Rory frowned. It was shaping into a full night of frowning for him. "What do you mean your brain was about to burn?"

"I bet she just snogged him to make the Doctor jealous," said Martha.

"That's enough," said the Doctor.

"Yes, well, I think you owe Martha an apology," said Donna.

"What do I owe Martha an apology for?"

"Oh, just that little thing where you spent all your time with her mooning over a petty teenager who has turned into a certifiable psychotic bint even after she walked the Earth?," said Donna.

Rory frowned even more. "What do you mean walked the Earth?"

"Wait, did you and the Doctor date?," asked Amy.

"No," said Martha. "I just sort of had a crush on him."

"Apology, spaceman?," asked Donna. "Is that coming?"

"Sorry, Martha," said the Doctor sheepishly as Martha smiled.

"So, what now?," asked Amy.

The Doctor was saved from answering by Georgiana stirring awake. She turned her head to find Zara staring at her with mirroring brown eyes.

"Mummy?," she inquired, looking up at Donna.

"Zara Mummy," Zara answered.

"Daddy?," Georgiana asked, looking over at the Doctor.

"Zara Daddy!"

"Hush, Zara," said Donna.

"Josh?," Georgiana asked frantically, "Ella?"

Donna looked at Lydia. "Why does she keep asking for Josh and Ella?"

"That's her brother and sister," said Zara.

"My alternate universe counterpart has children called Josh and Ella?." asked Donna.

"Yes," said Lydia. "Twins."

Donna shook her head. "This is just getting weirder."

Esther entered. She immediately ran towards Lydia who shrieked.

"What's that?," she asked.

"A dog," said Rory.

"Doggie!," said Georgiana, mercifully distracted.

"Zara doggie."

"Oh, right, I'd forgotten, you've spent most of your life on Gallifrey. This is a dog, specifically canis lupus familiaris, the domestic cousin of the wolf, Basically, a sort of household animal humans have had for thousands of years, some for abilities at hunting or guarding or companionship."

Lydia looked down at the dog and back up at the Doctor. "She says her name's Esther."

"Yeah, humans name them as well. She's like a member of the family."

Lydia glanced down and back up. "She says she's the pack leader."

"No, she's not," said the Docotor.

"Sorry, are you saying you speak dog?," asked Amy.

"Don't you?," asked Lydia. "No, she says she's definitely in charge. Then Donna, then Zara, then the baby and then you."

"How did I get below the baby?," asked the Doctor. He looked at Esther. "I travelled through time to get you! I showed you the biscuit dispensary!"

"Doctor," said Donna.

"Seriously, Donna, nothing against Chloe, obviously, but she's four days old! What's she ever done for Esther?"

"Actually, she says if I'm staying I might move above you in the pack order," said Lydia.

"You know, robot dogs never do this," the Doctor said accusingly towards Esther.

* * *

><p>Lydia slept in the room the TARDIS provided her: a carbon copy of the one back on her father's TARDIS. She only came out when the TARDIS started shining so many lights at her face she had to wander out into the hallway squinting.<p>

She stumbled into the kitchen where Donna sat with Georgiana and Zara in newly appeared matching high chairs.

"Zara, honestly," said Donna as she rocked Chloe with one arm. "I know you know how to feed yourself."

Zara crossed her arms, pouting at her banana slices. From what Donna could observe, Georgiana wasn't quite as advanced as Zara and needed more help. Zara had seen Donna spooning mashed banana to Georgiana and decided she needed help.

"Milk," said Zara.

"Milk!," Georgiana agreed enthusiastically.

Donna narrowed her eyes at the both of them. "You know I only have two and the queue is currently forming."

"Zara milk!," Zara shouted as she looked at Georgiana.

"Queue?," asked Lydia.

Donna looked up. "There you are, sweetheart! I was about to come wake you, but there have been some setbacks. Have a seat."

Lydia sat down quietly.

"God, did you sleep in those things?," asked Donna. "Wait. That's not your costume, is it? I've seen some of the Doctor's old outfits, I know Time Lords have a twisted dress sense."

"No," said Lydia. "I don't know what happened to the clothes I was wearing when I got here. All I've got is a coat."

"No problem. We'll see if Amy will let you borrow until we can get you things of your own." She scoffed. "Certainly don't want you looking for something in the Doctor's wardrobe. Trust me. I've been in there. It's frightful."

Donna laughed. Lydia didn't so much as smile.

"What about some breakfast?," asked Donna. "You'll feel better after you've eaten."

"No. Thank you," said Lydia.

Donna sighed. "You can't punish yourself, Lydia."

"I'm not trying to punish myself," Lydia said frowning.

"Yes, you are," said Donna. "You think what happened to Mister Fitzwilliam is your fault so you think depriving yourself of everything is the answer."

"I tricked him," said Lydia.

"You were alone with a baby, which would scare the hell out of anyone, let alone a fifteen year had nowhere to turn, you had to do something or who knows what might have happened to the two of you? You weren't trying to hurt anyone."

"I did, though. I always do."

Donna shook her head. "It's not your fault."

"You don't even know me," said Lydia.

"No," said Donna, "but I do know someone like you."

* * *

><p>Lydia borrowed some clothes from Amy. Some boots, a short skirt and a jumper. She went looking for the Doctor and found the TARDIS was back in the Austens' sitting room.<p>

Cassandra sat doing needlepoint. "Miss St. John-Smythe." She looked her up and down. "What interesting clothing."

"Yeah," Lydia agreed. "Have you seen the Doctor?"

Cassandra looked forlornly out the window. "He is in the garden with my sister."

Lydia walked out to the garden. The Doctor must have been speaking with Jane for quite a while.

"I am going to write a book?," she asked. "My writing is trivial."

"Well, I'm not saying you will necessarily," said the Doctor. "Just, you know, if you happen to.."

"Miss St. John-Smythe," said Jane. "How are you?"

"Fine," said Lydia. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"What is there to be sorry for? Mister Fitzwilliam was merely an acquaintance of mine," Jane said stiffly.

"Jane!," called Cassandra. "Father's carriage!"

"Please excuse me," said Jane. "I must go."

Jane walked away as the Doctor and Lydia watched.

"It's not your fault, you know," said the Doctor.

"So I hear."

The Doctor nodded. "Where did you get those clothes from?"

"Amy."

The Doctor nodded, thinking they were definitely going to have to get Lydia some clothes at the next opportunity. He had never noticed how short Amy's skirts were and even if she wasn't technically his daughter, he was certain his alternate wouldn't appreciate this.

"You said the Silence brought you here," said the Doctor, as the walked through the garden. "What did you mean?"

"I meant the Silence."

"Who are they?," asked the Doctor. "Everywhere we go, people keep saying Silence. What's it mean?"

"I'm not sure myself. They took me when I was a baby, they tried to raise me to be an assassin or something."

"Took you? From Gallifrey?"

"Yes," said Lydia, trying to shake her earliest memory.

"Why you?"

"Because they need a Time Lord for something. I don't know what. It has to be the same reason they chose Georgiana."

"It must be what they came after Zara for." He paused, deep in thought. "We have to find out who they are."

Lydia was incredulous. "And how do we do that?"

"I know someone who worked with them," said the Doctor. "Just a matter of getting him to open up. Then we'll find a way of getting you home if your father's not already on his way."

"Doesn't matter," said Lydia.

The Doctor nodded, not understanding. "Lydia? Is it short for something?"

"Lydianasathvanara."

"Brilliant. A bit long."

"That's what my dad says."

The Doctor paused. "You know, you look like the Oracle. You really do."

Lydia shook her head. "She doesn't look like this anymore."

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, that happens. Come on. We had better get back to the TARDIS."

* * *

><p>The Doctor walked into the TARDIS with Lydia where the others waited. Donna stood with Martha, Amy and Rory were together by the console, Jack and Ianto took the jumpseat.<p>

"Lydia tells me that the enemy we're fighting is called the Silence."

"Like with the 456?," asked Jack. "Ellis' last words."

"Those aliens in London," said Rory.

"And what the lizard man said," added Amy.

"The same and apparently, Rose is somehow in league with them," the Doctor added. "They make a point of going after Time Babies and that means that the TARDIS is the only place safe. I can drop you all off-"

"We can't just leave you," Amy said quickly.

The Doctor shook his head. "Amy, I can't protect you-"

"You need help," said Amy. "At the very least, you need a babysitter. Also, the girls might need someone to look after them."

Martha and Donna unsuccessfully tried to hide their snorts. The Doctor was impressed at how quickly Amy had adapted.

"You expect us to leave when you need our help?," asked Jack.

"I'm not going anywhere," said Ianto.

The Doctor looked at Martha. "You don't have to come. You've all done enough."

"Yeah," said Martha, "I think I've earned the right to decide for myself and I've decided to help you."

The Doctor looked at Donna.

"Discussion closed, spaceman." She walked over to the console controls and stood next to him. "Where to?"

"I think it's about time we had a chat with someone," said the Doctor.

* * *

><p>Jane and Cassandra hurried back to the sitting room just in time to see the TARDIS dematerializing. Their father followed, having been told they had something to show him. The wind blew and the blue box faded away into the Vortex.<p>

Jane and Cassandra would not see it again for twenty-one years.

* * *

><p>AN: Yes, that was it. I know, cliffhanger. Please look for the forthcoming sequel, Any Other World.


End file.
